Services & Support Professionals

Anesthesia -- Advancing techniques improve patient care

The practice of anesthesia has made tremendous strides since the early days when ether was the principal anesthetic agent and doctors administered it by dropping the liquid on a gauze cloth draped over the patient’s mouth and nose.

Anesthesiologists at CMMC's have access to various technologies and a variety of anesthetic agents that make anesthesia safer and much more easily tolerated by patients. By using general anesthesia for surgery and giving a regional anesthetic for relief afterward, anesthesiologists can deliver a one-two punch to pain that causes fewer after-effects during the recovery process – most notoriously, nausea.

Other frequently used techniques include the epidural catheter, which delivers painkillers directly to nerves near the spine to deaden pain signals, and patient controlled analgesic (PCA) systems that allow patients to control their pain-relief dosage by pressing a button connected to a computer. Patient controlled medication can be delivered through an intravenous or epidural catheter.