Canadian Journal of Anesthesia, Vol 37, 134-142, Copyright © 1990 by Canadian Anesthesiologists' Society

ARTICLES

The evolution of anaesthesia as a specialty in Canada

DA Shephard
Department of Anaesthesia, University Hospital, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Since 1847 anaesthesia in Canada has evolved through six phases. In the first (1847-1898), it was a craft without an academic and professional base. The second (1899-1919) was marked by the first academic appointments and by Canadians' wartime experiences of anaesthesia. The third phase (1920-1929) evidenced the professional satisfaction of anaesthesia and included the founding of the Canadian Society of Anaesthetists. In the fourth phase (1930-1943) the growth of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, the introduction of certification and the founding of the definitive professional society--the Canadian Anaesthetists' Society--fostered the evolution of what was now becoming a recognizable specialty. The fifth phase (1944-1971) was one of resolution of problems affecting the status of anaesthesia: the first autonomous department of anaesthesia in a Canadian university was founded (at McGill in 1945), the Royal College Fellowship was approved for anaesthesia (in 1951), the Canadian Anaesthetists' Society Journal was launched (in 1954) and a single standard for certification of specialists was finally established (in 1971). In the sixth (1972-1989), the main elements were the assumption of responsibility for residency training by the universities and by the renaming of the journal as the Canadian Journal of Anaesthesia. Through these years of increasing professionalism, it has, however, been the accomplishments of individual Canadian physicians, facing many challenges, that have made the specialty in Canada recognizably Canadian.