An anesthesiologist (American English), or anaesthetist (British English), is a medical doctor trained to administer anesthesia. (In the U.S., an anesthetist is usually a nurse or technician trained to administer anesthesia.See nurse anesthetist)

Training varies depending on the country. In Australia, for example, training is overseen by the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists. In England training is overseen by the Royal College of Anaesthetists.

In the United States, anesthesiologists are medical doctors (MD) or osteopathic physicians (DO). Anesthesiologists complete a four year undergraduate program, four years of medical school training, a one year internship, and three years of postgraduate training in the form of an anesthesiology residency. The three year residency training encompasses the full scope of perioperative medicine, including pre-operative medical evaluation, intraoperative life support and pain control, post-operative recovery, ICU medicine, and chronic and acute pain management. Anesthesiologists can choose to sub-specialize in areas such as cardiac or obstetric anesthesia, pain management, or intensive care unit medicine.

Anaesthetists in the United Kingdom are doctors with five years undergraduate program. They usually enter anaesthetics from other specialties, such as Medicine or Accident and Emergency. Specialist training then takes at least seven years. It is overseen by the Royal College of Anaesthetists.

Noted anesthesiologists

• Virginia Apgar
• August Bier
• Thomas Cecil Gray
• Stuart Hameroff
• Tom Hornbein
• Marcel Junod
• William T.G. Morton
• Gabriel G. Nahas
• Gordon Ostlere
• Philip H. Sechzer

References

• PMID 15550291

Medical doctors by specialty | Anesthesia

Anästhesist | Anesthesioloog | Anestezjolog