Medicine

Department name change recognizes expanding role of anesthesiologists

HERSHEY, Pa. — It used to be that the only time you would see an anesthesiologist was in the operating room to help control your pain levels while undergoing surgery. Today’s practice of pain medicine looks much different, with anesthesiologists more involved in medical care before, during and following surgery. One of the ways a growing group of health care organizations in the nation — including Penn State Hershey — is formally acknowledging this expanding role is by changing how anesthesiology practitioners are referenced.

At Penn State Hershey, the Department of Anesthesiology has been renamed the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine.

Other early adopters who have expanded their department’s name include the University of California Irvine, Oregon Health & Science University and Stanford University.

Dr. Berend Mets recently co-authored an editorial in the journal Anesthesiology with fellow chairs of these departments calling for the specialty to be renamed nationally.

Learn more in this Penn State Medicine article.

Last Updated January 27, 2016

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