Transitioning into the postpandemic era in anaesthesia: a reflection of lessons learnt

Abstract

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the country’s anaesthesia and critical care services. Cancellation and postponement of elective surgical cases to curb the spread of infection and redeployment of manpower plus resources for the creation of critical care beds were our main focus. 1 The subsequent human resource challenge to safely staff the beds and the psycho-logical stress suffered by providers due to the hazardous nature of the work dominated the thrust of the administrators during the full force of the pandemic. Anaesthesiologists at the forefront of safety saw to a rapid proliferation of guidelines produced in record time by our fraternity to protect ourselves and our patients from being infected by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The Malaysian Society of Anaesthesiologists and College of Anaesthesiologists, Academy of Medicine Malaysia (MSA/CoA, AM) produced recommendations on the appropriate protection during aerosol-generating procedures (AGPs), including the use of powered air-purifying respirators whenever available.2 Being a precious commodity during the pandemic, the safety of the anaesthesiologist became a priority. Even in the event of a deteriorating COVID-19 patient, the anaesthesiologist was advised to don full personal protection equipment (PPE) before attending to the patient. Successful intubation at the first attempt has never been more critical. It became obvious that anaesthesiologists could not change the circumstances, but still had