Art of Anesthesia
Art of Anesthesia breaks down how anesthesia works, why it matters, and what really happens behind the drape. More than a thousand subscribers; one of the most engaged readerships in Substack's health category. Free posts weekly.
Four threads
Inside the OR
Clinical explainers — what the drugs do, how we secure your airway, why you don't remember anything. The questions patients actually ask, answered the way a colleague would answer them.
Erased
Who gets credit in healthcare, who doesn't, and what the public misses when nurses are background. Includes the widely shared breakdowns of how medical television portrays — and misportrays — the people who keep patients alive.
The Math of Care
Research told in plain language: where anesthesia providers actually practice, who has access to care and who doesn't, and what the data say about the workforce behind the most common medical experience in America.
The Patient Across the Drape
Anonymized human moments from practice — the questions families ask, the things a clinician remembers years later.
Most-read explainers
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So, What's a CRNA? (And Why We Don't Leave the OR)Art of AnesthesiaWhat a CRNA actually is — and why we never leave your side during surgery. Read →
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What Is Anesthesia, Actually?Art of AnesthesiaThe plain-language answer to the question every surgical patient wonders. The publication's most-shared explainer.
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Why Nausea After Surgery Is Worse Than Pain (And How We Prevent It)Art of AnesthesiaPostoperative nausea, explained by a clinician who has also published peer-reviewed research on preventing it. Read →
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Propofol: The Milk of Anesthesia (And Why It Burns)Art of AnesthesiaThe most famous anesthetic drug in the world, demystified. Read →
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What Intubation Actually Is, And Why It's Always Done Left-HandedArt of AnesthesiaAirway management — the skill that defines the specialty — explained for people who will (thankfully) never see it. Read →
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What The Pitt Gets Right About Nurses (And What It Gets Dangerously Wrong)Art of AnesthesiaCultural commentary on medical television and nurse visibility, from inside the profession. Read →
Newspaper writing
Published articles in The Spokesman-Review, Spokane's daily newspaper — writing for general readers beyond the newsletter. Selected pieces and links are being added to this archive.
Beyond the newsletter
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From Patient Care to Research: A Nurse Scientist's JourneyONS Voice · 2024On the path from the bedside to a research career. Read →
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What the Next Generation of Nurse Researchers Learned from ONS Precision Symptom ScienceONS Voice · 2024Reporting from the front lines of oncology nursing research training. Read →
For peer-reviewed publications, see the Scholarship page.
The full archive
Every published piece — newsletter essays, professional commentary, newspaper writing, and editorials — is being gathered into a single archive, organized by topic, audience, and year. The complete Art of Anesthesia archive is available now on Substack; academic work lives on the Scholarship page.