[Recommendations on the relationship between surgeons and anesthesiologists as part of the health care team].
Surgeon and anesthesiologist work as a team. Physicians of different but complementary specialties, they work jointly in the management of the patient during the pre, per and postoperative periods, with the main objective of ensuring the best quality of care and the greatest safety. However, the unprecedented development of new technologies during the last decades, deeply modified the conditions of exercise of these two specialities. Thus, the practice of anaesthesia is not only necessary for performing the surgical act, but also for diagnostic and therapeutic techniques using high technologies. So, from a traditional partner of the surgeon, the anesthetist became the privileged collaborator of a great number of specialists. Within these teams, the anesthetist must achieve his/her task in all independence, as stated in the Lebanese Code of Ethics. I will try in this message to point out the responsibilities of each of the two partners in this joint practice. The practice of a shared activity, in the same place, for the benefit of the patient, requires a preliminary definition of roles, in the mutual respect of competencies and responsibilities of each specialist, based on the respect of the rules edicted in the Code of Ethics.
Daher
Michel
M
Service de Chirurgie générale, Hôpital Saint-Georges-CHU, Beyrouth, Liban. mndaher@inco.com.lb
D000776:Anesthesiology / Q000458:organization & administration*; D002983:Clinical Competence; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D013502:General Surgery; D006801:Humans; D007861:Lebanon; D008511:Medicine / Q000458:organization & administration*; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000592:standards*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D013038:Specialization