Magdalena K's Senior Project Blog

Project Title: Knocked Out: Choosing the Right Anesthesia for Surgery BASIS Advisor: Shelby Landa Internship Location: Independent Project Onsite Mentor: Dr. Ginnelle Reis

Project Abstract

My project takes a deeper dive into the minds of anesthesiologists and what the process and thinking is when it comes to which type of anesthesia people should take before going into surgery. Anesthesia is the use of certain medicine and or drugs to prevent pain during medical procedures and an anesthesiologist is the person who administers said drugs. While preparing for surgery, many people are not worrying about the anesthesia aspect before they go into the procedure which results in them not being aware they can speak up about which anesthesia they prefer. The National Library of Medicine says that 60-92% of patients before surgery are anxious. Anxiety comes from a variety of factors and one of those factors is the type of anesthesia used, as also stated in the same article. The pre-operative anxiety they are experiencing could be lowered if they knew more about the approach anesthesiologists take to arrive at the decision for their operation. Sometimes patients do not have preferences either or their preference cannot be adhered to due to pre-existing medical conditions they may have. This means the anesthesiologist has to take in consideration multiple factors of why they believe this certain anesthesia is best for the operation which is what I will be investigating further in. In doing this research interview with Dr. Ries and on my own, I hope to get a better understanding of the anesthetic practice.