Esthesiology

Esthesiology, commonly spelled anesthesiology, is a medical specialty focused on the care of patients before, during, and after anesthesia and related perioperative management. It includes anesthesia administration, analgesia, perioperative medicine, critical care, and pain medicine. Anesthesiologists oversee airway management, physiologic monitoring, and hemodynamic stability to ensure patient comfort and safety during procedures.

Historically, modern anesthesia emerged in the mid-19th century with the introduction of ether anesthesia in 1846 and later chloroform. The specialty has evolved to emphasize patient safety, pharmacology, and multimodal analgesia, as well as complex monitoring and refined airway techniques.

Practitioners include anesthesiologists, nurse anesthetists, and anesthesiologist assistants working in operating rooms, emergency departments, and critical care units. Training typically involves medical school, a residency in anesthesiology, and board certification. Core duties include preoperative assessment, planning anesthesia strategy (general, regional, or local), induction and maintenance of anesthesia, airway management, and postoperative recovery and pain control.

Subspecialties encompass pediatric, obstetric, regional anesthesia (nerve blocks and neuraxial techniques), cardiovascular, neuroanesthesia, ICU or critical care anesthesia, and pain medicine. Techniques and tools include inhaled agents, intravenous anesthetics, opioids, non-opioid analgesics, sedatives, neuromuscular blockade, ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia, monitoring (ECG, blood pressure, pulse oximetry, capnography, temperature, depth of anesthesia), and ventilatory support. In contemporary practice, there is emphasis on patient safety, multimodal analgesia, and enhanced recovery pathways to shorten hospital stays and reduce opioid exposure.