I recently came across a few references to the role of Sister Anaesthetists during and after the First World War and wondered if anyone knew more about them and their role?
From a 2002 article in Anaesthesia journal, on the Sister Anaesthetists of Norwich.
It's an Open Access paper, so help yourself to downloading the pdf:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1046/j.1365-2044.2002.02833.x (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1046/j.1365-2044.2002.02833.x)
1 The Sister Anaesthetists shall be appointed by the Honorary Medical Staff, subject to confirmation by the Board of Management.
2 When on duty they will be under the control of the Honorary Anaesthetists.
3 The salary shall be at the rate of £70 a year with uniform, board, residence and laundry.
4 Both Sister Anaesthetists shall be on duty from 9 AM till 1.30 PM One shall be on duty 1.30 PM to 6 PM and the other from 6 PM to 9 AM.
5 The Sister Anaesthetists shall be entitled to every other weekend off from 6 PM Friday to 9 AM Monday.
6 For disciplinary purposes the Sister Anaesthetists shall be under the Matron
Also a letter to the BMJ 1940, again, free to access:
https://europepmc.org/backend/ptpmcrender.fcgi?accid=PMC2179470&blobtype=pdf (https://europepmc.org/backend/ptpmcrender.fcgi?accid=PMC2179470&blobtype=pdf)
and finally for today, another history from the 1992 proceedings of the History of Anaesthesia Society (quite a big download, 5mb or so, you want pages 22-28
http://passthrough.kchwebproxy1.ad.ekhuft.nhs.uk/download/437904/http://www.histansoc.org.uk/uploads/9/5/5/2/9552670/volume_11.pdf (http://passthrough.kchwebproxy1.ad.ekhuft.nhs.uk/download/437904/http://www.histansoc.org.uk/uploads/9/5/5/2/9552670/volume_11.pdf)
Enjoy.
Mark (well I am a a librarian...) Kerr
Thanks Mark,a little light reading me thinks? Co incidentally today sees the start of the 13th world congress of Nurse Anaesthetists in Budapest!