Anesthesia is boring if it is done correctly. Easy intubation, in a healthy patient, for routine surgery.
An unanticipated difficult airway is NOT boring-- just listening to the pulse ox going down down down is enough to give me PVCs
The multiple trauma emergency intubation in a c-collar in the ED is NOT boring-- especially when you factor in the bloody airway and the full stomach.
The AAA rupture that flatlines after induction when all you have is the 20G IV from an OSH is NOT boring.
The laboring woman who is wheeled into the OR with the OB resident's arm up her cooter holding in the prolapsed cord is NOT boring.
The 2 yr old who goes into laryngospasm after a routine hernia repair and turns as blue as your scrubs is NOT boring.
Figuring out how to anesthetize a patient with epidermolysis bullosa without tearing their skin off is a complete pain in the ass, but is NOT boring.
I could go on, but in general, the attitude that your patient may try to die RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU, EVERY TIME YOU GO IN THE OR, is not out of place in anesthesia. Even with the best preparation, no anesthesia can really be called 'routine'.
I have never been bored.
manixter 1/09/2005
