Portable Equipment for Intensive Therapy.

CERTAIN technical procedures, such as venepuncture, endotracheal intubation and artificial respiration are performed routinely by the anasthetist. Additionally, he should be in the habit of making rapid assessment of the severely ill patient and instituting supportive therapy, particularly where there may be cardio-vascular or respiratory failure. As a natural consequence anisthetists are no longer confined only to the anmsthetic room and operation theatre, but may be asked to help in the management of disease throughout hospital practice. Respiratory obstruction, chest and head injuries, poliomyelitis and similar conditions, barbiturate intoxication, eclampsia, post-operative chest complications and intractable pain are all examples when a move is indicated from the conventional and limited sphere of pure anesthesia, into the broader field of medicine in its widest sense.