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As part of BWH's BluePrint celebration, BWH Bulletin features this special section to explore the past, present and future of the institution. Learn more at BWHPikeNotes.org/BluePrint. Questions? Email BWHBluePrint@partners.org.
The origin of BWH's Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine dates back to 1913 with the founding of Peter Bent Brigham Hospital. At the time, Anesthesiology was part of the Department of Surgery, overseen by Surgeon-in-Chief Harvey Cushing, MD. Cushing named Walter Boothby, a graduate of Harvard Medical School, as Anesthesiology's first supervisor. At the time, most anesthetics in the country were administered by nurses. Even during Boothby's tenure, nurses provided anesthesia care, a practice that continued after his departure. Anesthesiology was without a physician anesthesiologist until 1948, when William Derrick joined the hospital and established a residency program.
Anesthesiology officially became a department in 1969, "a change that allowed anesthesiologists and surgeons to work in a renewed partnership," wrote BWH anesthesiologist Sukumar Desai, MD, in "The Teaching Hospital: Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Evolution of Academic Medicine," a book recently published by BWH's Peter Tishler, MD, Christine Wenc and Department of Medicine Chair Joseph Loscalzo, MD. ("The Teaching Hospital" is available at the Shop on the Pike. Stay tuned for a story about the book in an upcoming issue of BWH Bulletin.)
Today, several decades later, the thriving department, led by Charles Vacanti, MD, is known for a variety of discoveries and accomplishments in both patient care and research. These include the creation of the Weiss epidural needle, which gives anesthesiologists greatly improved tactile feedback while administering anesthesia into the epidural space-the outermost part of the spinal canal. The creation is especially significant because the location is identified primarily by feel. The department is also responsible for the coining of the dural puncture epidural (DPE) technique, which involves puncturing the dura-a membrane that holds the cerebrospinal fluid-to help identify the epidural space, and popularizing its use.
The size of the department has grown to roughly 140 faculty members and more than 100 residents. It continues to be committed to patients' "rapid recovery with minimal side effects from anesthetic drugs," wrote Desai, as well as innovative research and teaching the next generation of anesthesiologists.
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