Aultman Anesthesia is a specialty department that provides pain relief during and after an operation and treats acute and long-standing pain problems.
Aultman Anesthesia is a medical group located at Aultman Hospital with a variety of health care providers, including physicians with a specialty in anesthesiology.
Anesthesiology is defined by the American Society of Anesthesiologists as: “The practice of medicine dedicated to the relief of pain and total care of the surgical patient before, during and after surgery.”
Anesthesiologists are involved in about 90% of the more than 40 million surgical procedures that are carried out under anesthetic each year in the United States. They are doctors (M.D. or D.O.) who specialize in perioperative care, developing anesthetic plans and the administration of anesthetics. An anesthesiologist has finished college, then medical school (four years), then an internship (one year) followed by a residency in anesthesia (three years). Some anesthesiologists pursue additional years of training (a fellowship).
Anesthesiologists at Aultman Anesthesia help ensure the safety of patients undergoing surgery, providing care for the patient to prevent the pain and distress they would otherwise experience. This may involve general anesthesia (“putting the patient to sleep”), sedation (intravenous medications to make the patient calm and/or unaware) or regional anesthesia (injections of local anesthetic near nerves to “numb up” the part of the body being operated on (i.e., nerve blocks or spinal/epidural injections).
Before the procedure, your Aultman Anesthesia professional will talk with you and establish an anesthetic plan in coordination with your surgeon. At this time, your anesthesiologist will also ensure you are ready for the operation. The first priority is getting the patient safely through the procedure. If the patient is sick and could be made healthier, then the operation may be postponed or cancelled (to allow “optimization” of the patient’s medical condition). This reduces the potential risk to which a patient may be exposed.
During the procedure, the surgeon carries out the surgical work, but the anesthesiologist will continue to be responsible for the medical management of the patient. They monitor the patient’s bodily functions (including heart rate and rhythm, breathing, blood pressure, body temperature and fluid balance); assess the best way to treat the vital organs; and provide a balance of medications suited to the individual’s needs. The anesthesiologist controls these vital measures and the patient’s level of pain and unconsciousness throughout the operation.
In addition to getting you through the operation safely, your anesthesiologist at Aultman Anesthesia tries to reduce post-operative pain. This may involve intravenous pain medications, but in many cases pain relief will involve placing local anesthetic near nerves.
To view our pain management forms, click here.