Home > Encyclopedia of Surgery > Anesthesiologist's Role

Definition

The anesthesiologist's role is the practice of medicine dedicated to the relief of pain and total care of the surgical patient before, during, and after surgery.

Training

Anesthesiologists are fully trained physicians. After completing a four-year college program and four years of medical school, anesthesiologists undergo four additional years of specialized residency training. Some will spend one to two more years training in such anesthesiology subspecialty areas as obstetrics, neurosurgery, cardiac surgery, pediatrics, or critically ill patients, or to learn more about the treatment of pain. Others may select to work in research laboratories, investigating, for example, how anesthetics work and how they influence disease or recovery.

In the United States, the education...