On our last class excursion, we visited Musee Service de Sante des Armees, a military museum located at the center of Paris. Because it is located in a military hospital, there were always some security guards following us and making sure we don’t accidently go to the wrong places. The museum was created during the war of 1914-1918. The exhibitions presented the military medicine in French armies. There were lots of war related paintings and the museum also included collections related to health support of the armed forces, maxillary and facial surgery, underwater and aerospace medicine, infectious disease medicine. In the exhibition, I was surprised to see very original set of atropine auto-injector provided by the army pharmacy. During my ambulance clinical for emergency medicine technician certification, my preceptor, a paramedic, told me that they carry duodate auto-injector kit, which contains atropine and palidoxime chloride, in case of suspected nerve agent poisoning. In the museum, there were lots of collections related to emergency operations. I heard that physicians use to use nitrous oxide for anesthesia. Also, Chinese also used acupuncture for anesthesia. Since lots of modern medicine were improved from procedures performed during war time, what is the history of anesthesia?
Military operations
Actually, the first successful surgical anesthesia using nitrous oxide was demonstrated in 1846. Before that, doctors carried out operations with either no pain relieved or with opium or alcohol. Doctors also tried to numb the nerves in part of the limb to relived pain. After the first successful demonstration of surgical anesthesia, doctors also recognized chloroform as anesthesia agents. The modern era of anesthesia began much later in 1946s. The practice of anesthesia was largely improved with the development of new drugs and new monitoring techniques and equipment (Australian Society of Anasthetists, n.d.).
Me and my “halo” in the church located in the military hospital complex
I found a review article about the spinal anesthesia infants. Spinal anesthesia has long been described as the effective means of providing anesthesia for infants who undergo lower abdominal surgery. However, there are lots of concerns regarding the neurocognitive effects of spinal anesthesia on developing brain. Recent findings showed that spinal anesthesia provides benefits over general anesthesia. Moreover, spinal anesthesia is enhanced by ultrasound guidance, which provides real-time guidance into the intrathecal space and confirms the medication administration location (Tirmizi, 2015).
It was a really great museum to visit and great place to finish our class excursions. When I volunteer for Emory Emergency Medical Service next semester, I will always think of this museum. I’ll definitely visit this place again if I come to Paris in the future!!!
References
Australian Society of Anasthetists. (n.d.). History of anaesthesia. Retrieved June 29, 2018, from http://allaboutanaesthesia.com.au/resources/history-of-anaesthesia/
Tirmizi, H. (2015). Spinal anesthesia in infants. Current Opinion in Anaesthesiology,28(3), 333-338. doi:10.1097/aco.0000000000000199