What Happens When You're Under Anesthesia?
Short Wave
NPR
4.7 • 6K Ratings
🗓️ 15 October 2025
⏱️ 16 minutes
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Summary
It's World Anesthesia Day tomorrow! So, we invite you to take a deep breathe. Picture a relaxing scene. Maybe a beach in Tahiti, your toes in the sand, a cold drink in hand. Now imagine your favorite music playing in the background. If Dr. Alopi Patel were your anesthesiologist, that's exactly what she'd have you do while you waited for surgery. Before she puts patients under the sway of anesthesia, she likes to explain everything that will happen after they lose consciousness and lead them in guided imagery to help them relax before their procedure. She calls this "verbal anesthesia," and says "it's a type of anesthesia you can't really put in an I.V." Anesthesia is a cornerstone of modern medicine makes tons of surgeries possible today. But Dr. Patel says it wasn't always this way — and shares the history and mechanisms behind this once-controversial procedure. (encore)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This message comes from The Economist. Introducing the Economist Insider, a new video offering with twice-weekly shows featuring in-depth analysis and expertise to make sense of an increasingly complex and dangerous world. |
| 0:14.0 | More at Economist.com slash insider. |
| 0:17.8 | You're listening to Shortwave from NPR. |
| 0:23.1 | Hi, my name is Dr. Patel, and I'm the anesthesiologist, and we're going to go into the operating room now. |
| 0:29.2 | So the room might be a little cold, there might be a few people here, and I also have a few people. |
| 0:33.5 | This is what you'd hear in surgery if Dr. Alopew Patel was your anesthesiologist. |
| 0:39.2 | When she puts patients under, she tries to explain everything as it happens. |
| 0:43.8 | So patients know what to expect. |
| 0:45.8 | Okay, so while you're sleeping, we're going to go on vacation. |
| 0:49.3 | Where do you want to go? |
| 0:50.5 | Tahiti. |
| 0:51.2 | Ooh, I like Tahiti. |
| 0:53.0 | So we're going to go to Tahiti. We're going to go to Borah Bora and |
| 0:56.5 | Tahiti and we're sitting on the beach. She'll put on your favorite music and continue this guided |
| 1:02.2 | vacation imagery meant to put you as the patient into a relaxed state. We're sitting on the beach, |
| 1:10.6 | putting our toes in the sand and do you want a margarita, a mojito? |
| 1:15.5 | What are we drinking today? Yeah, margarita. Salt or no salt? Margarita. Margarita on the rock, salt. |
| 1:19.8 | Okay. What type of flavor? Allope then begins a process called induction, using medication to induce a state of unconsciousness. I'm going to put |
| 1:30.4 | this mask on your face. It's going to be a little tight. Pretend this is fresh oxygen from Tahiti. |
| 1:35.4 | We just imported it, right? So taking deep breaths in and out. And I'm going to start giving you some |
| 1:41.1 | medication in your vein. And as I'm giving that IV, you're going to feel me rubbing on the other hand. |
| 1:46.7 | And that rubbing is going to make you feel better. |
... |
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