Celebrating 90 years of the Diploma in Anaesthetics
This November marks 90 years since the introduction of the Diploma in Anaesthetics (DA), a milestone in the formal recognition of anaesthesia as a medical specialty. Although the first recorded use of anaesthesia in England was in 1846, it wasn’t until 1935 that a qualification was established.
In its early days, anaesthesia was not a widely recognised or respected branch of medicine. Doctors weren’t required to have proper training in anaesthesia and general practitioners often administered anaesthetics themselves.
Change began in 1931, when Sir Ivan Magill first raised the need for a degree in anaesthetics. At the time, however, there was no organisation dedicated to promoting or developing the practice of anaesthesia to carry Magill’s suggestion forward. If anaesthesia were to be recognised as its own specialty, there needed to be a professional body to advocate for its advancement. And so it was, that in 1932, Dr Henry Featherstone founded the Association of Anaesthetists with the intention to “favour the establishment of a diploma of anaesthetics”. Not only would this help to raise the status of anaesthetists, but it would also ensure patients were safely tended to by trained professionals.
By 1935, post-graduate training in anaesthesia was initiated and the first exam was held on 8 November, producing 46 successful candidates, each of whom earnt a Diploma in Anaesthetics.
Want to learn more about how the Diploma in Anaesthetics came to be?
Read The time is ripe: 90 years of the Diploma in Anaesthetics to discover what questions were in the original exam and see sneak peeks from the archives, including Sir Ivan Magill’s very own diploma!
Tune into Dr Rob Feneck’s recorded talk, 'Anaesthesia and assessment: The Diploma in Anaesthesia and beyond', where he explores the early days of anaesthesia and the origins and development of the DA.
Hear from Magill himself in this 1976 oral history interview, where he shares behind-the-scenes insights into the establishment of the DA.