Anesthesiology is the medical specialty concerned with the pharmacological, physicological and clinical basis of anesthesia and related fields, including resuscitation, intensive respiratory care and acute and chronic pain.
The Washington University School of Medicine's Pain Management Center is well-known for effectively identifying and relieving pain, both chronic (long-term) and acute (sharp or short-term).
More specifically, the clinical practice of anesthesiology includes:
- assessment of, consultation for and preparation of patients for anesthesia;
provision of insensibility to pain during surgical, obstetric, therapeutic and diagnostic procedures;
monitoring and restoration of physicologic homeostasis (balance between opposing pressures) during the operative procedures as well as homeostasis in the critically ill or seriously injured patient;
diagnosis and treatment of painful syndromes and;
clinical management and teaching of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).