Global Anaesthesia - Paperback

by Rachael Craven (Editor), Hilary Edgcombe (Editor), Ben Gupta (Editor)

The Oxford Specialist Handbook of Global Anaesthesia is a key reference for anaesthetists working in environments with scarce resources. Whether due to rural locations, poverty, natural disasters, the outbreak of epidemics, or war and conflict, this handbook supports anaesthetists to practice to a high standard in challenging situations and to problem solve when faced with unusual circumstances.

Practical and concise, this resource outlines how to make the most of minimal resources, from finding alternatives to typical forms of anaesthesia, to the minimum standards for the safe and effective use of equipment. Intuitively laid out, with preoperative and perioperative instructions across a swathe of sub-specialties, including obstetrics, paediatrics, burns, pain, trauma, and critical care.

Written by international experts with a wealth of experience administering anaesthesia in elective and emergency settings across the globe, this essential handbook provides the definitive guide to the provision of consistently safe anaesthesia in unfavourable environments, in a portable and easy-to-read format.

Author Biography

Rachael Craven, Consultant Anaesthetist, University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust, Volunteer anaesthetist Medecins sans Frontieres, Hilary Edgcombe, Consultant Anaesthetist, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer, University of Oxford, Ben Gupta, Consultant Anaesthetist, University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust, Volunteer anaesthetist Medecins sans Frontieres

Dr Rachael Craven is a consultant anaesthetist in Bristol with special interests in anaesthesia for maxillofacial and thoracic surgery and in education. She has been a volunteer anaesthetist with Medecins sans Frontieres for more than a decade. As a result of this work she has helped set up and work in emergency surgical projects in a variety of disaster and conflict settings and has developed an interest in training anaesthetists to work in low resource settings. She is a member of the joint World Federation of Anaesthetists / International Committee of the Red Cross advisory committee, was the ex-anaesthesia lead for the UK Emergency Medical Team setting up the Anaesthesia in Austere Environments Course and is a regular faculty member for the Oxford/Uganda Anaesthesia in Developing Countries course, the Royal College of Anaesthetists Developing World Anaesthesia Course, and the International Committee of the Red Cross War Surgery course.

Dr Hilary Edgcombe is a practising consultant anaesthetist in Oxford. Her interest in anaesthesia in the low-resource setting has led her to projects and hospitals in several countries in sub-Saharan Africa. She is an advocate for context-relevant training of both local anaesthesia providers and overseas visitors in all settings, in order to promote global safe, effective perioperative care. She has directed the internationally-recognised "Anaesthesia in Developing Countries" course since 2011, holds a Master's degree in Global Health, and is medical adviser to the LIFE project, a Kenya-Oxford collaboration building mobile training tools for remote locations.

Dr Ben Gupta is a consultant anaesthetist in Bristol, UK, with special interests in anaesthesia for obstetrics and trauma surgery and in specialist vascular access procedures. He has been a volunteer anaesthetist with Medecins sans Frontieres, spending a year in the field on clinical missions on 4 different occasions. As a result of this work he set up and directed the Royal College of Anaesthetists Developing World Anaesthesia course in 2011, which has gone on to train hundreds of anaesthetists to work in low resource settings. He is a regular faculty member for the Oxford/Uganda Anaesthesia in Developing Countries course.