Am J Psychiatry 1990; 147:1553-1556
Copyright © 1990 by American Psychiatric Association
Should psychiatrists administer anesthesia for ECT?
T Pearlman, M Loper and L Tillery
Department of Psychiatry, Memorial Southwest Hospital, Houston, TX.
Whether psychiatrists are qualified to give anesthesia for ECT is
controversial. At the authors' hospital, over a 9-year period ECT resulted
in no mortality and minimal morbidity; in 98.8% of the treatments,
anesthesia was given by psychiatrists. The average nursing time required
for cases in which anesthesiologists administered anesthetic was longer
than that for psychiatrists' cases. This difference may be related to
succinylcholine dose and efficacy of ECT. The authors' surveys indicated
that psychiatrists and anesthesiologists have differing opinions on whether
psychiatrists should administer anesthesia for ECT and that few psychiatry
residency programs which teach ECT provide training in anesthesia.
