Spotlight

At UC Irvine Medical Center, board-certified or -eligible physicians personally provide or medically direct complete anesthetic care during all surgical procedures.  This includes:

• Comprehensive pre-operative evaluation prior to any elective operation.
• Constant monitoring and modification of the anesthetic to ensure maximum safety and comfort during the operation.
• Follow-up care during the recovery phase.

The anesthesia care  team is complemented by doctors completing a three-year residency in anesthesiology and Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs). Our CRNAs are licensed, nationally certified professionals who are specially trained to take care of a patient's anesthesia needs before, during and after surgery, including the delivery of a baby. The equipment and techniques used in our nationally recognized department are state-of-the-art. UC Irvine Medical Center physician anesthesiologists can also provide pain management care for post-operative patients, if needed.

Types of anesthesia
 
Each patient is individually assessed by an anesthesiologist prior to surgery. Based on this evaluation, a customized anesthesiology plan is formulated for each patient based on the individual’s physical status and other factors. Today, drugs can be custom designed to meet the individual needs of patients undergoing anesthesia.

There are three main types of anesthesia, including:

• General, resulting in unconsciousness and the absence of pain sensation over the entire body, accompanied by muscle relaxation. Anesthetic drugs may include gases or vapors inhaled through a mask or tube. Other anesthetics are administered through a vein.
• Regional anesthesia, which blocks pain in certain parts of the body, such as the back, without causing unconsciousness. This is accomplished by injecting a small amount of anesthetic near a cluster of nerves that can numb the area of the body undergoing surgery. This form of anesthesia includes “spinals” and “epidurals”.
• Local anesthesia is similar to regional anesthesia, but affects a smaller area of the body.

Monitoring during surgery

Our anesthesiologists employ state-of-the-art equipment to monitor patients’ breathing, heart rhythms, blood pressure and brain and kidney functions during surgery.

 The Bispectral Index (BIS) is a device that checks the consciousness level of patients on a second-by-second basis. Considered one of the most important breakthroughs in anesthesiology in the past 10 years, BIS makes it possible to administer up to 30 percent less anesthetic than before, while ensuring that the patient remains in a state of deep sleep.

As a result, the BIS monitor allows physicians to "fast track" patients. The less anesthesia patients have, the faster they recover. Individuals undergoing cardiac surgery, for example, can have their breathing tubes removed several hours earlier because they've had less anesthesia. The result: BIS patients are discharged up to 19 percent sooner than in the past.

The new equipment also guards against what doctors call "patient awareness" during surgery by continuously monitoring the depth of anesthesia.  With amazing precision, the BIS monitor measures the effects of anesthesia on a patient, making it possible for the anesthesiologist to respond quickly and appropriately.

Anesthesiology subspecialists

In the United States, the training of a physician-anesthesiologist requires four years of college, four years of medical school, a one-year internship, and a three-year residency. To qualify for their important role in the surgical suite, anesthesiologists must have an excellent understanding of cardiology, critical care medicine, internal medicine, pharmacology and surgery.

Additionally, many of our highly trained physician anesthesiologists have chosen to subspecialize in areas such as neurological, pediatric, neonatal, cardiac and regional anesthesiology. To be recognized as a subspecialist in these areas, an anesthesiologist must complete one or two more years in special programs beyond residency training. The extraordinary level of expertise and experience demonstrated by these physicans reflects our status as a nationally recognized university hospital.