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Anaesthetist's
Reports |
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The anaesthetist's reports were
incorporated into the larger reports that were generated by the
surgeon. |
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The list of
operations in the Operating Theatre Book is at variance with the
Nosworthy Cards. This is partly accounted for by "mumps". There
was a pre-occupation that the extent of the affliction which had
temporarily laid the surgeon
low would similarly affect the
anaesthetist and that a replacement would have to be flown out. |
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It soon became apparent that the
disease was confined to the parotid glands and did not travel
"south" but nevertheless a replacement -
Sqdn Ldr Papworth - was flown
out and he administered five anaesthetics. (Anaesthetists were in
short supply in the army not only because of numbers but also
because they often had good(?) reasons for not deploying to
55FST because of insuperable personal problems. The webmaster
was the third choice for this deployment and notwithstanding
their past circumstances would wish to
express his gratitude to the other two who found reasons to stay
at home and missed out on the deployment of a lifetime !) |
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The jobbing anaesthetist in the
local general hospital now, as a matter of course, has access to and
uses an array of sophisticated equipment and anaesthetic
medications. I suspect that the more equipment that
anaesthetists have around them the happier and more fulfilled
the feel. |
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I recall, whilst in training, the
patient's pulsemeter hitting zero at the same time that the
surgeon -Ian Lister - leaned over the drapes, addressed
the patient and said "I'm trying not to hurt you". My panic was
relieved by Don Hutton, my tutor, quietly observing that the
battery in the pulsemeter had probably given up and that I
should ignore the surgeon. |
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Not surprisingly I have a
sceptical mistrust of any sort of electro-mechanical medical
apparatus and prefer to keep things a simple as possible. If the
kit goes wrong or is not present you have to rely on your basic
skills and techniques. It goes without saying that you have to
be practised in those skills to have the confidence to rely upon
them. However reliance on the supply chain for everything from
bottled gas from the UK to local electricity to run a ventilator
is not needed if skills are maximised, equipment is minimised
and the KISS route is embraced.
Bitter experience
in 55FST hammered this home. |
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The equipment inventory for 55FST
was just about as basic as it could get. |
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I have looked critically at the
list of patients anaesthetised in the four months in Dhofar and
tried to decide whether the outcome would have been more
favourable if I had access to more sophisticated and complex
anaesthetic apparatus. Even allowing for my hopelessly biased
attitude I think that it is unlikely. |
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1. Report
No 2 |
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2. Report
No 3 |
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3. Report
No 4 |
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4. Report
No 5 |
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5.
End of Tour Report 1972 |
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How busy was the FST ? Examination of
the records shows that there were periods of little activity and
periods of intense activity. It averaged out to just above two
general anaesthetics per day !
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The two peaks in the records
relate to the RCL attack on the officers' mess, Mirbat and
then the DPS after each incident. |
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If any one has any other draft copies
they would wish to add to the website I would be only too happy
to include them. |
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Webmaster |
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