History and Definition of Nursings First Clinical Specialty Who would have thought that a small carbon based organic compound such as ether would spawn a new field of medical specializations, changing the history of medicine for ever. Ether was discovered in 1275 by a Spanish chemist named Raymundus Lullius,(Evans,1995,p 1). It was his discovery that allowed William E. Clark to use ether as an anesthetic for the first time in 1842. He administered the ether on a dental patient for Elijah Pope as he performed a dental extraction on Miss Hobbie,(Evans,1995.p 1). This was the first step in the creation of the field of anesthesia. This new technology was quickly put to use to relieve pain in all areas of medicine, and its use was seen in hospital operating rooms, dentists' offices and battle fields. This new practice in medicine was primarily taken on by the physicians of that time. This new method added to a doctors routine of operating on patients, this proved to be to taxing on the doctor as well as their patients. The added burden of administering the anesthetics along with doing the operation and resuscitation of the patient safely was too much for the doctors. This fact was proven by the increase in mortality rates of patients put under by doctors who administered their own anesthetic. The increasing mortality rates forced the medical proffesion to demanded a change in how anesthesia was given. It was thought that the person administering the anesthetic should do that and only that during an operation. This would free up the physicians so that they could concentrate on the operation at hand. The remaining question was, who do we get to administer the anesthesia? This person would have already be trained in some aspect of the medical field and demonstrate good critical thought and good cognitive reasoning. The doctors only needed to look up from the operating table and to their assistants in health care to get their answer, it was ...
