What is an Anaesthetist?- Discover More About Anaesthetists

If we look at the etymology of the word “anaesthesia,” we’d see that it’s comprised of two Greek words: "an" which means "without" and "aesthesis" which means "sensation".

The term 'Anaesthesia' means the practice of administering medications in several ways, either by injection or inhalation, that will cause your body to block all feelings of pain and other sensations, including a deep state of unconsciousness. This allows doctors to perform medical and surgical processes without causing you pain, discomfort, or distress.

The administration of an anaesthetic can be divided into 4 main categories:

• Sedation
• Local Anaesthetic
• Regional Anaesthetic
• General Anaesthetic

The choice of the anaesthetic administered is based on the patient's preference and the operation performed.

Anaesthetist Meaning: An Anaesthetist is a specialist medical doctor (fully qualified consultant doctor) who has trained for many years to be responsible for providing anaesthesia to patients for operations and procedures (primary specialty). Their main job is also to be responsible at the same time for the safety and well-being of the patient in the operating theatre. This involves supporting a patient's vital signs, ensuring the patient is hydrated, warm and comfortable at the conclusion of the procedure. In addition, anaesthetists have a range of practice which extends beyond anaesthesia for surgery to include pain management and intensive care. 

 The journey to becoming an Anaesthetists involves initially completing a medical degree. This is followed by several years of general hospital training. In Australia, an anaesthetist spends 5 years undergoing specialist training with the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists, gaining professional knowledge and expert skills in the speciality of anaesthesia. To find out more please see below.

  Doctors who practice the specialty of giving anaesthetics  are referred to as Anesthesiologists in most areas of the world. In fact, it is the most widespread global term to refer to medically specialised doctors who practice medicine in the field of Anaesthesia. Some examples of these countries who have practising Anesthesiologists in the hospital are the USA and China. 

  In countries such as Australia and the United Kingdom, doctors who practise the specialty of Anaesthesia, are referred to Anaesthetists. In Australia, all anaesthetics are given by medically qualified anaesthetists (doctors). This contrasts to the United States of America where 'Nurse Anesthetists' work in collaboration with anesthesiologists to ensure the administration of the anaesthetic is practised in a safe manner. 

Consultant Anaesthetists in Australia and the UK are specialist medical doctors who have acquired professional skills in the specialty of Anaesthesia and work in a hospital. These doctors remain present throughout the anaesthetic to ensure that they remain safe and with minimal pain after the operation. 

In addition to completing a medical degree in University, Anaesthetists need to complete many years in further training to specialise in practising Anaesthesia.

  In the United States of America, many hospitals have nurse Anesthetists. These are nurses who perform anesthesia on patients in conjunction with Anesthesiologists- who are specialist doctors (expert doctors in the field of administering an anaesthetic). 

What Do They Do?  

Patients who need an operation that requires an anaesthetic will have an anaesthetist who helps them through the entire process. Below is additional information for people wondering what does an Anaesthetist do?

Prior to the anaesthetist performing the anaesthetic, the anaesthetist will need to spend some time with the patient to get a better understanding of the patient’s medical conditions and health status, in order to maximise the care for the patient. This information will be utilised by the Anaesthetist to determine what type of anaesthetic would be best for the patient and whether any extra form of monitoring or equipment may be necessary. 

What are their duties during an Operation?

The anaesthetist will be working with the surgeon during the operation and their primary duty is to care of the patient while under the anaesthetic. This involves checking on the patient’s vital signs and other critical indicators to adjust the dosage of anaesthetic medications and introduce other medications to keep the patient safe. It is not uncommon during an operation for the Anaesthetist to manipulate vital signs in an effort to make the surgery possible for the surgeon.

During the surgery, the Anaesthetist will be vigilant in ensuring no harm comes to the patient. This involves:

1. making sure no objects are applying any pressure on the patient's body
2. the patient blood loss is minimised, and if required commencing a blood transfusion
3.  administering analgesia to ensure the patient awakes comfortable
4. ensuring the patient remains warm throughout the procedure
5. maintaining vital signs within a normal range

How safe is having an Anaesthetic?

It is extremely safe to get general anaesthesia in Australia and New Zealand, which are two of the safest places in the world to get these procedures done. With the amount of specialist education that goes into training specialist Anaesthetist doctors in Australia and New Zealand, these two countries actually have one of the best patient safety records in the world. In addition, the increase of research and new knowledge in the area of Anaesthesia assures that the outstanding safety record that Anaesthetists provides remains.  

This is why hospitals have anaesthetists. Many of today's operations are made possible as a result of developments in anaesthesia and the training of specialist anaesthetist doctors.

Do they have any other Roles?

With all that training, anaesthetists are critical to many different types of teams and medical services that help patients stay healthy.

Importantly, they are also a critical component in resuscitating acutely unwell patients. For example, they would help trauma victims stay alive. They also manage patients who may be suffering from pain, whether acute or chronic. 

All Anaesthetists in Australia have studied and been awarded a diploma of the fellowship of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists, and are  Fellows of the College. Fellowship of the college allows them to use the initials 'FANZCA' after their name. In addition, all Anaesthetists are doctors who have a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) degree.

How do you become an Anaesthetist?

The journey to becoming an Anaesthetist in Australia can be quite long, but the duration of training ensures that fully qualified Anaesthetists provide the highest level of safety and quality to their patients.

Step 1  - Complete a medical degree

In order to become an anaesthetist, you would have to first become a doctor. As you might know, becoming a doctor requires a lot of vigorous training. It, of course, depends on the track you decide to take -- you could either go into a five to six-year medical degree directly out of high school to finish medical school or finish an undergraduate bachelor’s degree before applying. You have to pass rigorous standardised tests to even get into medical school. Being admitted to medical school depends not just test scores, but also interviews as well.

Step 2 - Internship

After graduating from a university medical degree, in pursuit of becoming an Anaesthetist, doctors will need to embark on an internship at an accredited hospital for one year. During their time they must complete:

• a term of at least eight weeks that provides experience in emergency medical care 
• a term of at least 10 weeks that provides experience in medicine
• a term of at least 10 weeks that provides experience in surgery, and
• a range of other approved terms to make up 12 months (minimum of 47 weeks full-time equivalent service).

Step 3 - Residency

After completing a years internship, doctors will then commence their training within an accredited hospital as a 'Resident'. As a Resident doctor, they will work in a more specific branch of medicine, including gaining their first exposure to the speciality of Anaesthesia. During this time the doctors will be under the supervision of more specialised doctors, including specialist Anaesthetists.

Step 4 - Vocational training

On completing the doctor's Residency year/s, a doctor can apply to enter an Anaesthetic training program. The Anaesthetic training program is conducted by ANZCA, who is responsible for the doctors training, examination and accreditation of anaesthetists in Australia and New Zealand. This training will take a minimum of five years. 

Because of how complex clinical anaesthesia is, you not only have to fully understand how the body works (which is physiology) and also how medications affect the body (pharmacology). This knowledge is necessary for anticipating how different bodies may respond to anaesthesia and how that might affect a patient’s health. They additionally have to understand the surgery itself in order to perform their duty.

Anaesthetists undergo a minimum of twelve to fifteen years of training before they are allowed to help you with your operations. That is so so much time. They spend about as much time getting a general education as they do in primary and high school! That’s about 1/3 of their life that they may be spending in training and school just to make sure that you as a patient get the best care you can get.

The time taken after high school to become an anaesthetist can be summarised below:

• Medical school (4-6 years)
• Internship (1 year)
• Residency (2 years)
• Fellowship of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetist (training program) (5 years)

With the quick pace of today’s medical, you might be wondering how an anaesthetist stays up to date on the most recent studies and knowledge. You might be wondering how anaesthetists can keep their skills updated and sharp after leaving the classroom and training programs. This is critical because you don’t want people to be using old techniques when you know there are better and safer ways to get the same results!

Actually, in order to keep their fellowship and keep practising as the specialist doctors that they are, anaesthetists are required to participate in a kind of professional development program. The Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists manages and puts together a whole series of scientific meetings. These meetings are where many new technologies and research findings and techniques are presented to the anaesthetists of New Zealand and Australia. These meetings and conferences are also not only for locals -- many international experts also attend and present at these meetings as well.

In addition to the meetings, the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists also runs Anaesthetist courses and anaesthetist workshop programs under Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists’ Education Development unit. These Anaesthetist workshops help anaesthetists learn new skills in a more hands-on way. This is how the members of Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists stay on top of the newest innovations and developments of the modern medical world.

An Anaesthetist salary varies greatly depending on whether the Anaesthetist is employed in the public system or works independently in private practice.

  An Anaesthetist salary in private practice is not paid by a single entity, but by multiple sources such as a patient, Medicare Australia and Health funds.