Robert Liston: the Surgeon Who Really Cared about his Patients - Essay Example

"Robert Liston: the Surgeon Who Really Cared about his Patients" is a perfect example of a paper on surgery and rehabilitation. Robert Liston was a surgeon who introduced an ingenious approach towards surgery in an era when there existed no anesthetics. Liston worked as a Professor of Clinical Surgery at University College, London (Hollingham, 2009, 34). In those times when most of the patients had to bear with excruciating pain while undergoing surgical procedures, Robert Liston dealt with this issue by resorting to speed surgery, which not only considerably reduced the time taken to finish a surgical procedure but also greatly diminished the ordeal that a patient had to bear with (Hollingham, 2009, p. 38). No doubt, going by the fact that Liston accomplished most of his surgeries in a time that happened to be a fraction of what other surgeons took, he was famous for his surgical dexterity and perfection (Wootton, 2006, p. 22). 

     In addition to this, Liston also happened to be an avid inventor and an academic author, and a teacher. Some of his famous inventions like Liston Splint and Bulldog Locking Forceps are used by surgeons even today (Ellis, 2009). As a teacher, he believed in a practical and hands-on approach to surgery. He also authored the books Practical Surgery and The Elements of Surgery (Ellis, 2009). Liston is also credited with being the first European surgeon to perform surgery using ether as an anesthetic (Ellis, 2009, p. 79).

     The most praiseworthy thing about Liston is that he happened to be a pioneer who ushered in the idea of managing pain during serious surgeries. Going by the fact that during his time there existed no anesthetics; he forwarded the idea of reducing the stress and pain suffered by the patients by speeding up surgical procedures. Not, only this, but he also proved his point through personal examples. It would not be wrong to say that perhaps Liston was one of the first few modern minds, who thought of managing and curtailing the pain involved in serious surgical procedures. Today this may seem ordinary, but in those days this idea was a medical breakthrough.   

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