Surgical Anaesthesia

Xiamen Zhongshan Hospital's Department of Surgical Anesthesia was formally established in 1954 and is a second-level clinical discipline. After years of unremitting effort, it has now developed into a clinical department integrating medical care, teaching, and research, with strong medical and technical capabilities and a high academic level; it is the home institution of the Chair of the Anesthesiology Specialty Committee of the Xiamen Medical Association, the earliest standardized residency training base in Fujian Province, and the province's first “Comfort-Oriented Medical Care Training Base of the Chinese Anesthesiologists Branch”; every year, it organizes the national continuing education program “Study Class on Anesthesia Outside Surgery”. The department has now formed a relatively complete integrated structure of subspecialties such as clinical anesthesia, the post-anesthesia care unit, and pain diagnosis and treatment. It currently has the most advanced anesthesia machines, monitors, and resuscitation equipment. All anesthesiologists have received or are receiving standardized, formalized, and systematic anesthesiology training, and have mastered the various nerve-block and general-anesthesia methods currently applicable, as well as internationally advanced perioperative monitoring techniques. As one of Zhongshan Hospital's departments with a relatively large staff, the Department of Surgical Anesthesia undertakes hospital-wide clinical anesthesia, post-anesthesia care, and acute-pain and cancer-pain treatment; among these, it undertakes surgical anesthesia for 13 departments, including General Surgery, Hepatobiliary Surgery, Orthopedics, Thoracic Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Neurosurgery, Urology, Ophthalmology, Otolaryngology, Plastic Surgery, Stomatology, the Digestive Endoscopy Unit, and the Catheterization Laboratory, performing more than 6,000 surgical anesthesia cases every year. From infants a few months old to elderly people aged 80-90; from local anesthesia to anesthesia for highly complex liver and kidney transplantation surgeries. In recent years, it has assisted many clinical disciplines in carrying out various specialized anesthesia services; every year, it completes more than 20,000 surgical anesthesia procedures and more than 10,000 painless gastrointestinal endoscopy and bronchoscopy examination and treatment procedures; in 2018, it jointly launched a 24-hour painless labor service with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology; in 2020, it jointly launched the “Oral Comfort-Oriented Treatment” service for adults and children with the Department of Stomatology. Pain is a major worldwide problem. The Department of Surgical Anesthesia is actively using its strengths in professional theory, professional technology, and other areas to help more people stay free from pain. In recent years, our department has achieved very good results through individualized analgesic treatment tailored to different operations and patient conditions. Using multiple analgesic methods, such as epidural nerve blocks, intravenous patient-controlled analgesia, and sublingual lozenges, it provides patients in relevant departments with postoperative analgesia, labor analgesia, and cancer-pain treatment; this has been a blessing for patients, fundamentally changed the traditional concept that “postoperative pain is inevitable”, and contributed to helping patients pass through the recovery period happily and to creating a pain-free hospital. Our department currently operates an all-day specialized pain outpatient clinic. At the same time, anesthesiologists draw on their extensive theoretical knowledge and practical experience in emergency rescue and resuscitation, as well as their strong awareness that every second counts during rescue; every year, they participate in the emergency treatment of more than 400 critically ill patients, saving countless precious lives. There are currently 44 doctors (6 chief physicians, 16 deputy chief physicians, 15 attending physicians, 7 resident physicians), all with bachelor's degrees or higher, and more than 2/3 with master's degrees. The average age is 38.5 years, the staff structure is young, and the team is full of vitality. In recent years, the department's cultural development has been people-oriented. Every week, it consistently holds 1 foreign-language literature report meeting and a reading-notes meeting. This improves young physicians' foreign-language reading ability, enables them to keep abreast of new medical developments abroad, and maintains professional study every Wednesday. The department is always filled with a strong academic atmosphere. It currently undertakes undergraduate teaching in clinical medicine. The overall goal of the department's development is a comprehensive perioperative management department (Department of Perioperative Management), while actively building a pain-free hospital.