In an ever changing world

摘要

Anaesthetics have evolved considerably over the past few years from a speciality, which was often perceived as being about getting patients to go to sleep and making sure they had plenty of oxygen to the more recent recognition of the anaesthetist as perioperative physician. General physicians are in decline, being replaced by increasing specialisation, often at the cost of more general credentials, and the advent and anticipated rise of the new acute physician. Intensive care as a speciality is consolidating as a blend of both worlds and is increasingly recognised as being somewhat different from its parent specialities rather than being just a variation on a theme.