What is an Anesthesiologist?
An anesthesiologist is a doctor who practices anesthesiology, which is the speciality dedicated to the relief of pain and care of the surgical patient before, during and after surgery.
Adult Anesthesia
The adult anesthesia division at Sidra Medicine provides world class consultant delivered care using the most up to date evidence based techniques available. On the Birthing Centre, a full range of pain relief options for labor are provided including advanced epidural and combined spinal epidural techniques. Intravenous patient-controlled analgesia for labor is also available. For patients undergoing surgical procedures, regional anesthesia (where part of the body is numbed) or general anesthesia (being put to sleep for the operation) or a combination of these can be used. For some procedures where the patient is awake, particularly in Assisted Reproductive Technology, sedative drugs may be given by the anesthesiologist to make the procedure more comfortable.
Your anesthesiologist will discuss the type of anesthesia or pain relief with you before the procedure. You will have the opportunity to ask questions about the techniques and consider alternatives. You may not be able to have some types of pain relief if you have certain medical conditions or are taking certain medications, but in these cases an alternative will be offered.
Higher risk patients will be seen by an anesthesiologist in the outpatient clinic. A plan for labor and delivery or the planned operation will be made, usually in conjunction with other specialists involved in your care. Higher levels of monitoring may be required on the High Dependency unit after the procedure.
The division’s pain team manages persistent pain conditions in women. This unique specialist multidisciplinary service will deal with problems such as pelvic pain, low back pain, sciatica, neuropathic and mechanical pain. We offer a holistic approach including medical, psychological and interventional management.
Pediatric Anesthesiology Service
The pediatric anesthesiology department at Sidra Medicine provides anesthesia and pain relief services for children and young people from birth to 18 years. We cover all pediatric surgical specialties within the hospital, in addition to 24 hour on-call emergency cover. We also provide anesthesia for Transplant surgery as well as Cardiac surgery.
Approximately 8000 anesthetic procedures are carried out per year.
What We Do
Anesthesiologists are specialist doctors who give the anesthetic and look after the health of your child during surgery. We are also closely involved with your child’s pain relief after surgery. There are 24 permanent consultants within the department, each with their own specialist interest. We also play a leading role in education and training.
If your child requires a general anesthetic, an anesthesiologist will visit you before the procedure to discuss your child’s anesthetic. We need to find out about your child’s general health, previous experiences of anesthesia, any medicines your child is taking and any allergies he or she may have. We will also discuss about the timings of when your child can have anything to eat and drink before surgery or any procedure.
Pre Admission clinic ( PAT) -This is a good time to talk about any particular concerns you may have about the anesthesia procedure, and it provides a wonderful opportunity for families to understand anesthesia.
We also offer Child Life Services to offer developmental and psychosocial support for children at Sidra Medicine.
Learn More
Useful Information
You can find information leaflets about having an anaesthetic on the following website:
https://www.rcoa.ac.uk/childrensinfo
More information on general anaesthesia for children can be found by clicking the links below
- https://www.rcoa.ac.uk/node/1849
- https://www.rcoa.ac.uk/node/429
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Davy the detective: finding out about anaesthetics
General anaesthesia: a brief guide for young people
