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Here you will find the latest information about my career and my writing. Please click on the tabs above for more information.
Latest News
I will be giving a short presentation on obstetric anaesthesia at the Australian Society of Anaesthetists’ National Scientific Congress 2023 in Melbourne in October.
I’m honoured and delighted to be a joint recipient of the New Zealand Society of Anaesthetists President’s Award 2022. Thank you to (Past) President Dr. Sheila Hart and all the NZSA for giving me this award (pictured), which is deeply appreciated.
The fifth edition of the Oxford Handbook of Anaesthesia was published in February 2022 and is widely available. The 5th edition is a ground-up rewrite of the text, with a brand new editorial team. Rachel Freedman, Lara Herbert and Nicki Ross and I are now full editors, with support from Iain Wilson. Previous editions of the Oxford Handbook of Anaesthesia have been very well-received, and we naturally hope this one will be too.
I produced a YouTube Video of my grandfather’s memories of serving as a British Soldier in WW2 in Malta. I added a text commentary and photographs to illustrate his audio recording. You can watch the first part here.
With the recent renewal in interest in medicinal cannabis, I was invited to prepare a talk for the University of Waikato Department of Psychology, with a review of cannabis in a medical context. They recorded the talk, and have given me permission to include the link on this website. If you have a spare 90 minutes, you can hear the entire talk here. Variations on this talk have been given to the Waikato Postgraduate Medicine meeting, and Waikato Hospital Grand Rounds.
Reviews of my first book Anaesthesia: A Very Short Introduction appeared in Anaesthesia, the Bulletin of the Royal College of Anaesthetists and the British Journal of Anaesthesia. The reviews have all been very favourable. For a sample chapter, click here.
The book was also highlighted on the official Very Short Introductions Facebook page. Oxford University Press filmed a series of short interviews with me. The three interviews can be seen on its webpage The Truth About Anaesthesia, or on YouTube.
Aidan.
Aidan O'Donnell 
Aidan,
A great article about Casey Nathan and the Swiss Cheese. The airline industry has adopted the no blame policy which has led to this industry being a world leader. I work in Engineering and we too try this approach, although less successfully.
Your article is a breath of fresh air in an ever less accountable and blame apportioning, litigious society.
Regards
Colin Millen
Thanks for dropping by to post your comment Colin. I am delighted you liked the article.
Just found this and bought the book of short stories. Do you know Dr Steve Barker, GP in Warkworth? A British immigrant, has written several children’s novels including the secret of Spirits Bay.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16164273-the-secret-of-spirits-bay
Hi Aidan
Just found your ‘very short’ book while looking for an undergraduate text on anaesthesia. This will save me hours of lectures. Hopefully you will get some royalties from my students!
Interesting that you are in Waikato. I’m in Lancaster, the UK’s smallest medical school and am reading with fascination about the politics of Waikato’s bid to have a small medical school. Our experience is that these things are worth striving for! Do you think they will get one?
Hi Andrew. Thanks for getting in touch. I am delighted that you like my book and I hope it proves useful to your students. I think its main desirability as a textbook is that it is (1) short, (2) cheap, (3) readable (if I say so myself). And did I mention it’s short?
I am extremely supportive of the plan for Waikato to get its own medical school. There are moves afoot to make it graduate-entry (which I think is a broadly a great idea). There are also moves afoot to tailor the curriculum (and thereby tie the graduates) to our chronic rural GP shortage. I am very opposed to the idea of us having a shorter, “medicine-lite” curriculum, creating a two-tier system of medical graduates in NZ.
Very happy to discuss the book or medical schools further, perhaps by email?
Aidan.