BehindTheMedspeak: Anesthesia in 1922

Via Linda Lou Turner comes the photo above, captioned "1922. 'Surgery #12.' Another selection from the 'Surgery' series of images, this one showing an anesthesiologist administering nitrous oxide prior to the operation."

So now it's 86 years on and I still sit on a little stool and hold a mask over a patient's face and give nitrous oxide prior to the operation.

Not much has changed in that regard; what's new is the monitoring technology that now occupies the empty space behind the gas passer.

Also, I now have a multi-drawer workshop cart to hold all the masks, tubes, drugs and whatnot I might need during a case.

99% of the time, though, I could get by just fine with the little rolling table the guy in the picture's using.

I'll keep the monitors, thank you very much.