This special edition showcases how anaesthesiologists lead emergency response across disasters, conflict, and critical care, strengthening systems and saving lives when it matters most.
New edition of Update in Anaesthesia reflects WFSA’s annual theme, Anaesthesiology in Health Emergencies, and highlights the profession’s critical role when health systems are under strain.
WFSA is pleased to announce the release of Update in Anaesthesia (UIA) Volume 41. As the official education journal of WFSA, UIA continues to provide clear, clinically relevant learning for anaesthesiologists working across diverse settings worldwide.
As Editor-in-Chief Prof. Christina Lundgren notes in her editorial, anaesthesiologists are uniquely trained to stand at the centre of crises, particularly during mass casualty events, whether natural or manmade. She reflects on the transformative experience of a colleague who joined an international earthquake response team, returning changed by the intensity and humility of the work.
This volume brings together contributions coordinated by Prof. Sheila Nainan Myatra, Chair of the WFSA Intensive & Critical Care Medicine Committee, with Associate Editor Dr. Bala Bhaskar. Collectively, the articles explore how anaesthesiologists lead, adapt, and deliver lifesaving care in the most challenging circumstances.
• Anaesthesiologists at the Forefront of Health Emergencies: The Role of Essential Emergency and Critical Care (EECC) outlines how EECC provides a practical framework to identify, stabilise, and treat critically ill patients, strengthening preparedness and ensuring essential lifesaving care across all settings.
• Crisis Communication for Anaesthesiologists examines how communication failures contribute to adverse events in emergencies and highlights structured tools, simulation training, and lessons from global crises to improve team performance under pressure.
• Anaesthetic Induction in Hypovolaemic Trauma Patients reviews evidence-based strategies for managing profoundly unstable patients, focusing on induction agent selection, vascular access planning, and early resuscitation to reduce peri-induction hypotension and improve outcomes.
• Tracheal Intubation in the Critically Ill: Beyond Anatomy explores the concept of the physiologically difficult airway and emphasises preparation, optimisation, modified rapid sequence techniques, and tools such as videolaryngoscopy to improve safety and first-pass success.
• The New European Resuscitation Council Guidelines 2025 reinforces the life-saving importance of the first minutes after cardiac arrest and strengthens the “Systems Saving Lives” approach, alongside key clinical and educational updates.
• Alleviating Acute Pain Alongside Life-Threatening Conditions During Disaster Management argues that effective pain relief must be integrated into disaster response, using practical pharmacological and regional techniques even in resource-limited settings.
• Managing Health Care Resources and Patient Safety in Conflict Zones shares lessons from recent conflicts, highlighting adaptive triage, rational resource use, telemedicine, and targeted training to maintain safe care in austere environments.
• The Role of Anaesthesiologists in Natural Disasters underscores the profession’s leadership in disaster preparedness and response, advocating for stronger integration of anaesthesiologists into institutional planning to enhance resilience and patient outcomes.
Update in Anaesthesia Volume 41 is now available to read online. We extend our sincere thanks to all contributors and editorial partners for their efforts in creating this issue.
