Title

Popular Literature as an Educational Aid for History of Anesthesia

UMMS Affiliation

Department of Anesthesiology; School of Medicine

Publication Date

2018-04-01

Document Type

Article

Disciplines

Anesthesia and Analgesia | Anesthesiology | History of Science, Technology, and Medicine | Medical Education

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: History of anesthesia can be learned through formal didactic lectures, discussions, tours, audiovisual media, general anesthesia textbooks, anesthesia history texts, and by popular literature.

METHODS: We studied thirteen books that describe events and advances related to the discovery and development of modern anesthesia. Deliberately omitted were books that might be considered by some to be textbooks, because our aim was to explore the genre of popular literature.

RESULTS: The books span the spectrum from introductory historical narratives to comprehensive summaries, biographies, and scholarly works.

CONCLUSIONS: These books provide a varied perspective on various aspects of the discovery of anesthesia, ranging from a quick read to scholarly work. If only one book were to be recommended for the novice, we suggest Julie Fenster's historical narrative, Ether Day.

Keywords

Alternative education, Education, History, History of anesthesia, Nondidactic education, Popular literature

DOI of Published Version

10.1016/j.janh.2017.09.001

Source

J Anesth Hist. 2018 Apr;4(2):123-127. doi: 10.1016/j.janh.2017.09.001. Epub 2017 Sep 7. Link to article on publisher's site

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Journal of anesthesia history

Related Resources

Link to Article in PubMed

PubMed ID

29960675

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS