The practice of medicine is both ancient and universal. Where ever there are sick people, there are respected individuals in the community who use special knowledge to cure disease and ease pain. In primitive cultures, these individuals may be shamans or medicine men. But in developed civilizations, from the ancient Egyptians to today, medical care has been provided by highly-educated physicians.

Anesthesiologists are physicians who specialize in the prevention and treatment of pain. About five percent of all physicians are anesthesiologists. Unless you have had an operation, you may never have encountered an anesthesiologist. Anesthesiologists administer anesthetics before and during surgery and other medical procedures so the patient will feel no pain. Each year, more than 25 million surgical procedures are performed in the United States. These surgical procedures would not be possible without modern anesthesia techniques that block the pain of surgery. Your body includes a network of billions of nerve cells that interconnect with your brain and spinal cord. Through this network, electrochemical signals transmit information to the brain, including pain messages.

Anesthesiologists use three different types of anesthesia - local, regional, and general - to interrupt these pain signals. In general anesthesia, you are unconscious and have no awareness or other sensations. Some general anesthetic drugs are gases or vapors inhaled through a breathing mask or tube; others are medications administered through a vein. During general anesthesia, anesthesiologists carefully monitor patients using sophisticated equipment to track major bodily functions. In most operations using general anesthesia, specialized equipment is used to actually control the patient's every breath. This is because certain medications temporarily decrease breathing capability, which is further reduced by necessary muscle relaxants. At the conclusion of surgery, the anesthesiologist reverses the process and the patient regains consciousness. With regional anesthesia, the anesthesiologist makes an injection near a cluster of nerves to numb the area of the body that requires surgery. The patient may remain awake, but does not see or feel the actual surgery. Two of the most frequently used regional anesthesia are spinal anesthesia and epidural anesthesia, which are produced by injections made with great exactness in the appropriate areas of the back. They are frequently preferred for childbirth and prostate surgery.

In local anesthesia, the anesthetic drug is usually injected into the tissue to numb just the specific location of the body requiring minor surgery, for example, on the hand or foot. If you become an anesthesiologist, you will interact with surgeons and pediatricians. You will also work with radiologists on diagnostic procedures such as angiograms. Unlike most other physicians, you probably will not spend a significant portion of your day seeing patients by appointment in your office. Anesthesiologists may specialize in a variety of different areas, such as cardiac or pediatric anesthesia. Through experience and additional training you may become an expert in a subcategory of anesthesiology. However, there are only two recognized subspecialties with separate board certification - pain management and critical care.

Today, anesthesiologists are not limited only to hospital operating rooms. An increasing number of surgical procedures are performed safely on an outpatient basis. This means that patients have surgery and go home on the same day. Same day surgery frequently is performed in an ambulatory surgical center. Anesthesiologists who specialize in pain management may work in pain management centers or hospital wards, treating patients with acute and chronic pain. Anesthesiology is a challenging career where new opportunities continue to develop as new treatment methods are discovered.