REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MARY McALEESE ON BECOMING A FELLOW OF THE COLLEGE OF ANAESTHETISTS
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MARY McALEESE ON BECOMING A FELLOW OF THE COLLEGE OF ANAESTHETISTS ON WEDNESDAY 23 SEPTEMBER 1998
I would like to say how honoured I am to be the first “fellow” of the new College of Anaesthetists – and to receive this tremendous honour on the Foundation Day of this new educational institution. To be part of a new beginning, the first words in a newly scripted future, is a great gift and I am grateful for it. Ivan Whiteside Magill would have approved a day like this. It is a particular pleasure for me to be renewing my association with you in this context, having stood before you two years ago when I delivered the 12th Gilmartin Lecture – in honour of a man who was an innovator and the doyen of Irish anaesthetists for a quarter of a century – and who of course was so closely associated with the Faculty of Anaesthetists at the Royal College of Surgeons. Tommy Gilmartin would simply have relished this development, seeing in it a re-energising and re-dedication of the discipline he gave his life to, a statement of its confidence in its past and assuredness about its future.
Only a short few months ago, I was myself honoured by the Royal College of Surgeons in being made an Honorary Fellow. I am very grateful indeed to Professor Denis Moriarty who has sponsored me this evening – and to the board of the College in supporting my nomination as the first Fellow of this sparkling new College.
I should say that I am reliably informed that the ‘split’ actually took place two years ago when the Faculty of Anaesthetists was established as a separate company. I hasten to add that notwithstanding the fact that there is now a new and separate college – it is the intention to maintain the strong links that exist with the RCSI. I imagine that given the nature of your professions it is just as well to keep an eye to what your colleagues are getting up to in theatre! They can’t, of course, go too far without their anaesthetist colleagues – for it was effective anaesthesia which gave birth to the miracle of modern surgery.
In receiving this honour I am very aware of the important role of anaesthetists in medical practice – not least because of my husband’s profession – and of the tremendous responsibilities that anaesthetists have in the delicate and complex area of surgical medicine. I know that the advances in medical technologies mean that the demands on graduates from this college will continue to change - and change again - to ensure that they are fully equipped and ready to address the complex nature of their work. They need to belong to a strong, self-reliant and wholly confident profession. This College will provide them with exactly the right framework in which professional formation will lead to deep-rooted pride in their work, in the pursuit of excellence and in the collective contribution of their profession. Like many other professions, the learning process is never over – there is an overriding requirement to keep up to date with the skills and knowledge that the job requires.
It is because of the ever increasing complexity of the work and training needs of your profession that is has been wisely decided to establish a separate college. So today is a landmark day for the RCSI as well. The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland occupies a special place in the heart of this city - and of this country – and is housed in one of the outstanding architectural landmarks of Dublin. This day is for them yet another episode in the long tradition that reaches back to 1446, when the Guild of Barbers was the first body of medical practitioners to be incorporated by Royal Charter, and those early days when the guild met in several taverns in the city! The thought strikes me that the concept of anaesthesia might well have originated in some of those taverns – long before Oliver Wendell Holmes suggested the name in the 19th Century - where, I have no doubt, many a soul was rendered senseless by imbibing a few extra units of alcohol – even if it wasn’t entirely for medicinal purposes. The firs6t to recognised the benefits of anaesthesia were wives of tight-fisted husbands from whom money could only be extracted by surgery or while senseless drunk.
As I said in May, the history of the Royal College of Surgeons is a remarkable story of tradition and continuity – and at the same time one of adaptability to change. The thread that links today’s institution to that Guild of Barbers in the 15th century - mirrors in so many ways the history of Ireland through the same period. Since King George III founded the College in 1784 - “to establish a liberal and extensive system of surgical education” – the College has changed over the centuries to reflect the increasing complexity, sophistication and interconnectedness of medical fields – with the merging of the training of physicians and surgeons in 1886 – when the College started to train doctors in its Medical School.
In this century – a century that has seen profound changes in society – and tremendous advances in all branches of the sciences including the medical sciences - the Post-Graduate Faculties of Anaesthetists was established in 1959 – Radiologists in 1961 –Dentistry in 1962 – and Nursing in 1974. In 1977 the Medical School was recognised as a College of the NUI – and joined the CAO system in the 1997/98 academic year.
Today, a chapter has been closed in a sense for the Royal College of Surgeons – and a new book opened for the College of Anaesthetists. It takes people of vision to see the changing needs up ahead and to create the state of preparedness for them. It is so much easier to keep doing things as they’ve always been done. But those who created this College could see the energy and refocusing of vocation it would release. The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland has a high reputation throughout the world today – a reputation that reflects the professionalism with which it conducts its business – the education and training of practitioners to the highest standard and of the highest quality. I have no doubt that the College of Anaesthetists will bring that same degree of professionalism and quality with it. That is its mission and I am delighted and proud to be associated with the College as it writes a new history for itself and the history of medicine in Ireland. I would like once again to record my appreciation of the honour that you have conferred on me. I would like to take the opportunity to wish the College and its staff every success in the centuries ahead.