ANESTHESIOLOGY
THE LAST THING A PATIENT HEARS BEFORE drifting to sleep in the gifted hands of their surgical care team is a voice. One that tells them they can just breathe and relax: “You are well taken care of.” That reassuring voice comes from behind the mask of a highly skilled and educated specialist. The anesthesiologist’s main job is to keep patients stable during every operation, but they are also fast becoming more and more responsible for their patient’s whole operative experience. “The patient has to surrender. What’s great is that they don’t surrender to a stranger but to someone who has visited with them before the surgery, who has allowed them to express their unique anxieties, who has captured the essence of their medical condition, physiology and psychology,” says Dr. Jacques Smit, Anesthesiologist with Island Health. “They surrender to someone who has communicated with all the specialists and taken responsibility for the patient’s totality — and that helps.” Once the patient is asleep, Dr. Smit must place a breathing tube in the patient’s airway. “So many of the improvements in surgery have been a direct result from advancements in anesthesiology equipment. What we are able to do now that we weren’t able to do 50 years ago is directly related to our ability to provide better ventilation, deliver anesthetic and protect the airway and lungs.” The ability to see well enough to place a breathing tube is not always possible with some people’s physiology. For many patients, he will need what’s called a difficultintubation scope. “If you have the patient asleep, and go to put the breathing tube in and can’t, it’s a dangerous situation. When you can’t see what you’re doing, there is a bigger risk of trauma, or it could go in the wrong place, which is the biggest contributor to mortality in anesthesiology.” This campaign is funding 12 of these difficult-intubation scopes to help anesthesiologists like Dr. Smit continue to revolutionize patient care. Anesthesiology Equipment: $294,600 victoriahf.ca/anesthesiology