Etiology of general anesthesia?

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Hello, I have to give a PowerPoint to my pharmacology class about general and local anesthesia. It's a general class project, and so we've all been assigned different medicines. We must work into the presentation a discussion of the condition they treat and the etiology of said condition, along with its pathophysiology.

But for my assignment, what could I possibly use for those requirements? After all, is it not true that anesthetics are not indicated for any particular condition, but to block pain for surgical interventions?

Any ideas, folks?

elkpark

14,633 Posts

Hello, I have to give a PowerPoint to my pharmacology class about general and local anesthesia. It's a general class project, and so we've all been assigned different medicines. We must work into the presentation a discussion of the condition they treat and the etiology of said condition, along with its pathophysiology.

But for my assignment, what could I possibly use for those requirements? After all, is it not true that anesthetics are not indicated for any particular condition, but to block pain for surgical interventions?

Any ideas, folks?

You've already answered your own question. :) The condition anesthesia "treats" is acute pain related to surgical/invasive procedures, and the pathophysiology is why it hurts when we get cut, are in labor, etc. How does anesthesia (general or local) keep someone from feeling pain?

Summer Days

203 Posts

You did not provide us with the medications you were assigned to. Anyhow, on Wednesday I had the opportunity to float in the OR/PACU. I saw a laparoscopic vs open cholecystectomy. In this case the patient had a general anesthesia to block the pain. There are many reasons why a gallbladder may be removed including gall stones. Find out how gall stones come about!

Specializes in ICU.

Well, there's a lot of components to general anesthesia. There's pain management, sedation, amnesia, and paralysis. I don't know if your instructor wants you to go into that much detail, but with pathophysiology of the problem, you could talk about how the drugs cause these effects and why these effects are important for a surgery patient. Why is it a problem if a surgery patient can move, how does movement work, and how does a drug stop movement from happening, etc.

JoseQuinones

281 Posts

Thanks to everyone. You truly helped. My presentation is this Friday, so fingers crossed.

@NursingStudent2015, that is a very fair point, and truthfully, I was not assigned any in particular. Just to choose the prototypes of different anesthetics and expound upon them. Thanks!

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