What your anaesthetist does — and everything you need before your procedure
An anaesthetist is a specialist doctor who keeps you safe, comfortable and continuously monitored before, during and after surgery. This page explains who your anaesthetist is and what they do — and links to everything else you need: preparing for your anaesthetic, fees, and answers to the questions patients ask most.
Find what you need
-
Preparing for your anaesthetic
Fasting times, your regular medications, what to bring, and what happens on the day — including our fasting time guide.
How to prepare -
Fees & informed financial consent
How anaesthetic fees are calculated, what Medicare and your health fund pay, and why you'll know your fee before the day.
Understand your fees -
Frequently asked questions
Will I be asleep? Will I feel sick afterwards? When can I drive? The questions every patient asks, answered plainly.
Read the FAQs
What is an anaesthetist?
An anaesthetist is a fully qualified medical specialist. In Australia, the path takes a minimum of around thirteen years: medical school, at least two years working as a hospital doctor, then a five-year specialist training program with the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists covering anaesthesia, pain management, resuscitation, intensive care, and the specific needs of children, older patients and women in labour.
All of the anaesthetists at Essential Anaesthetic Services hold the College's specialist qualification, FANZCA, and take part in its continuing professional development program — anaesthesia and medicine change quickly, and staying current is part of the job. You can meet our anaesthetists here.
What does an anaesthetist actually do during my procedure?
Your anaesthetist's work starts before you reach theatre and finishes after you wake up:
Before surgery
Your anaesthetist reviews your booking form and health history, meets you before the procedure, examines you where needed, and plans the safest anaesthetic for you specifically — your health, your medications, your procedure. This is the time to ask anything; no question about your anaesthetic is too small.
During surgery
Your anaesthetist stays with you for the entire procedure — they don't leave. They give the anaesthetic, then continuously monitor and manage your heart, breathing, blood pressure, temperature and pain, adjusting from minute to minute. Modern anaesthesia in Australia is very safe, and that safety comes precisely from this: a specialist doctor whose only patient, for the whole operation, is you.
After surgery
Your anaesthetist takes you to the recovery unit, hands over to specialised recovery nurses, prescribes your immediate pain relief and anti-nausea medication, and remains responsible for you until you're stable. For bigger operations, they also plan the pain relief that goes home with you.
The four types of anaesthesia — and what each feels like
Different procedures call for different depths of anaesthesia, from fully awake to fully unconscious. Your anaesthetist chooses — and explains — the right one for you. Many procedures combine two (a regional block plus sedation is a common pairing).
Local anaesthetic
What you feel: a brief sting, then the small area goes completely numb. You are fully awake and aware — there is simply no pain. Used for minor procedures.
Regional anaesthetic
What you feel: a whole region — an arm, a leg, the lower body (as with a spinal or epidural) — becomes heavy, warm and completely numb. You can be awake, or lightly sedated and dozing.
Sedation
What you feel: deeply relaxed and drowsy, drifting in and out — most people remember little or nothing of the procedure. Common for endoscopy and many day procedures.
General anaesthetic
What you feel: within about thirty seconds of the medication, nothing — you are fully unconscious, feel nothing, and wake in recovery with the operation already over.
Is anaesthesia safe?
Anaesthesia in Australia is among the safest in the world, and serious complications are rare. The most common after-effects are minor and temporary — drowsiness, a sore throat, or some nausea, all of which your anaesthetist actively manages. Your individual risk depends on your health and your procedure, which is exactly what your anaesthetist assesses when they meet you — and why the booking form asks about your health history in detail. If you have specific concerns, raise them with your anaesthetist before the day; that conversation is part of the service, not an extra.
This page is general information, not personal medical advice. Your anaesthetist will give you advice specific to your health and your procedure — and the instructions your hospital gives you always take precedence.
Procedure coming up?
The booking form takes about ten minutes and gives your anaesthetist everything they need to plan your care.