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Ellison C. Pierce, Jr., M.D.,
Associate Clinical Professor of Anaesthesia, Harvard Medical School,
Chairman Emeritus, Department of Anaesthesia, Deaconess Hospital,
Boston, MA
It is indeed an honor and privilege to deliver
this eponymous presentation, the 34th Rovenstine Lecture.
In preparation I have read most of the previous
discourses in the series. By custom, speakers begin with a few comments
about Dr. Rovenstine, who was born in Indiana in 1895 and died in
New York City in 1960. Rovey, as he was affectionately called by
his friends, was urged to enter the young field of anesthesia by
Arthur Guedel who was then on the medical faculty at Indiana and
who sent him to train with Ralph Waters at Wisconsin. Rovenstine
was one of Waters' first two residents. Several previous speakers
have examined their anesthesia "family" descent from Waters
and Rovenstine. Although I never met either, I may be part of the
family because the chairman at Pennsylvania where I trained was
Robert Dripps, also a resident with Waters and later with Rovenstine.
Dr. Waters dispatched Rovey to Bellevue Hospital
at the beginning of 1935, responding to an urgent request by the
Chief Surgeon of the New York University Division. Over the next
several years Emery A. Rovenstine became famous as an anesthesiologist,
as far as I know the only one ever profiled in The New Yorker. (1)
(2) (3) Perhaps his greatest role was in training young, scholarly
anesthesiologists to become chairmen of academic departments. In
addition Dr. Rovenstine must be considered one of the key figures
in the creation of anesthesiology as a full medical specialty. Perry
Volpitto and Leroy Vandam in their 1982 book, The Genesis of Contemporary
American Anesthesiology, place the early giants into two groups,
first, the visionaries, including Guedel and Waters. (4) The second,
the activators, contains Rovenstine.
As the foregoing comments suggest, Rovenstine's
professional life calls forth the enduring themes of leadership,
vision, and dedication to the advance of medical practice. These
themes are the real spirit of the Rovenstine Lectures, and they
provide a purpose and continuity that remain strong and relevant
-- long after the passage of time has diminished the early linkages
of professional kinship and memory. In keeping with this essential
spirit, my lecture today will once again visit the basic themes.
I will do so by exploring the pursuit of patient safety in anesthesia,
an objective that has been the chief goal in my professional career.
Although my remarks will present an admittedly personal view, I
hope they will convey some general lessons and insights that will
make this lecture a worthy tribute to Dr. Rovenstine and the lecture
series.
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