Anaesthesia A Very Short Introduction

What do anaesthetists do? How does anaesthesia work? What are the risks? And how does the anaesthetist know if you are really asleep? Anaesthesia is a mysterious and sometimes threatening process. In this Very Short Introduction, Aidan O'Donnell takes the reader on a tour through the whole of the modern anaesthetic practice. He begins by explaining general anaesthesia: what it is, how it is produced, and how it differs from natural sleep and other forms of unconsciousness. He goes on to consider the main categories of anaesthetic drugs, including anaesthetic vapours, intravenous agents, muscle relaxants, and analgesics, together with explanations of how they work and what their purpose is. Set against the historical background of anaesthetic and surgical practice, O'Donnell examines the large role anaesthetists play in specialised areas such as intensive care medicine, pain medicine, and childbirth; and finally, he considers the risks of anaesthesia, putting in to context that anaesthesia is a very safe process. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Rob Boddice considers how perceptions of pain have varied across history, and how the treatment of pain has also changed. Beginning with the classical world, he charts the increasing distinction drawn between physical and emotional pain, and the growing modern focus on empathy and compassion towards pain in others, and in animals.

The Oxford Handbook of Anaesthesia has been completely updated for the second edition. All chapters have been rewritten and a number of new expert authors have been brought on board. Additional new material includes anaesthesia for the critically ill, and a comprehensive section on anaesthetic risk including anaesthetic risk tables. The first section deals with preoperative issues affecting the administration of anaesthesia. Practical advice is provided covering the impact of medical disease on anaesthesia. The second section describes practical anaesthetic techniques for surgical specialties, including most subspecialties such as thoracic and neuroanaesthesia. Separate, comprehensive sections on paediatric and obstetric anaesthesia are included. The management of emergencies arising during anaesthesia are fully covered with helpful action plans and algorithms throughout. Uncommon conditions and their management are included, and there is an extensive drug formulary and guide to infusion drugs. As with the first edition, this new edition will be the essential handbook for anaesthetists, both junior and experienced, for registrars and those sitting exams, as well as ODPs and nurses involved in theatre area work and pre-assessment. It is the one book for anyone working in anaesthesia to keep to hand at all times!

Cardiac Anesthesia: A Problem-Based Learning Approach provides a comprehensive review of the dynamic and ever-changing field of cardiac anesthesia. Its problem-based format incorporates a pool of multiple-choice questions for self-assessment. Each of its 36 case-based chapters is accompanied by questions and answers, accessible online in a full practice exam. The cases presented are also unique, as each chapter starts with a case description, usually a compilation of several actual cases; it then branches out through case-based questions, to increasingly complex situations. This structure is designed to create an authentic experience that mirrors that of an oral board examination. The discussion sections that follow offer a comprehensive approach to the chapter's subject matter, thus creating a modern, complete, and up-to-date medical review of that topic.

Since dyslexia was first described in the British Medical Journal in 1896, there has been debate about the definitions and diagnostic procedures used, with some casting doubt on its very existence. However, there is now a considerable body of research regarding the nature and characteristics of this relatively common learning disorder. The contemporary view of dyslexia has emerged from a century of research in medicine, psychology and more recently neuroscience, and we now understand enough about this learning disorder to guide policy and practice. This Very Short Introduction provides an accessible overview of this exciting field of research, beginning with its history, and drawing on testimony from people living with dyslexia. Considering the potential causes of dyslexia, and looking at both genetic and environment factors, Margaret Snowling shows how cross-linguistic studies have documented the prevalence of dyslexia in different languages. Discussing the various brain scanning techniques that have been used to find out if the brains of people with dyslexia differ in structure or function from those of typical readers, Snowling moves on to weigh up various strategies and interventions which can help people living with dyslexia today. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Based around the core curriculum for specialist trainees in anaesthesia, this book contains over 60 clinical cases compiled by expert consultants. The book comprehensively covers all sub-specialties and many variations that occur in normal and abnormal physiology, pharmacology and pathology, and patient age.

We live today in an interconnected world in which ordinary people can became instant online celebrities to fans thousands of miles away, in which religious leaders can influence millions globally, in which humans are altering the climate and environment, and in which complex social forces intersect across continents. This is globalization. In the fifth edition of his bestselling Very Short Introduction Manfred B. Steger considers the major dimensions of globalization: economic, political, cultural, ideological, and ecological. He looks at its causes and effects, and engages with the hotly contested question of whether globalization is, ultimately, a good or a bad thing. From climate change to the Ebola virus, Donald Trump to Twitter, trade wars to China's growing global profile, Steger explores today's unprecedented levels of planetary integration as well as the recent challenges posed by resurgent national populism. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Against the backdrop of unprecedented concern for the future of health care, this i Very Short Introduction/i surveys the history of medicine from classical times to the present. Focussing on the key turning points in the history of Western medicine - such as the advent of hospitals and therise of experimental medicine - but also offering reflections on alternative traditions such as Chinese medicine, Bill Bynum offers insights into medicine's past, while at the same time engaging with contemporary issues, discoveries, and controversies.