E. I. McKesson, M. D., Anesthetist

A Century of Technology in Anesthesia & Analgesia

“…In the 1940s and 1950s, there was an influx into the specialty of new physician anesthetists who had first administered anesthesia during World War II. During this period of growth, the journal highlighted several key technological themes: (1) the continued refinement of tools for inhalational, regional, and IV anesthetic delivery, (2) the birth of continuous monitoring of electrical signals from the heart and the brain, (3) the eventual use of electricity for external cardiac defibrillation, (4) early glimmers of twitch monitoring to assess the degree of neuromuscular blockade, and (5) the origins of technological improvement and standardization on a systemic scale.…”

“…4 The first president of the NARS was Elmer McKesson, MD, physician anesthetist and inventor extraordinaire, who had designed his first anesthetic gas delivery apparatus and founded the McKesson Appliance Company a few years out from medical school. 5 He also created the first uniform anesthesia record in the United States. 6 The NARS was the brainchild of the charismatic Francis McMechan, MD, who served as the organization’s Executive Secretary, Research Committee Chair, and Editor of its official publication, Current Researches in Anesthesia and Analgesia (1922).…”