{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,11,6]],"date-time":"2026-11-06T11:25:54Z","timestamp":1793964354471,"version":"4.8.0"},"reference-count":23,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"3_suppl","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]],"date-time":"2026-09-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1790035200000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Anaesth Intensive Care"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,11]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    During the Second World War, acute shortages of medically qualified personnel prompted Addenbrooke\u2019s Hospital, Cambridge to train experienced nursing sisters to administer anaesthetics. Drawing on material from the Addenbrooke\u2019s archives, personal memoirs of participants, records from hospitals in Norwich and Ipswich, and contemporaneous correspondence published in the\n                    <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">British Medical Journal<\/jats:italic>\n                    and the\n                    <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Lancet<\/jats:italic>\n                    , this article examines the development, professional reception, and eventual cessation of the Sister Anaesthetist scheme at Addenbrooke\u2019s Hospital. This scheme was formally proposed in May 1940, and modelled on an existing programme which had been established at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital almost two decades previously. Despite the requirement for a structured 6-month apprenticeship and ongoing evidence of clinical competency by those enrolled, the scheme generated fierce opposition from local Honorary Anaesthetists, culminating in a collective threat of resignation in June 1941. Sister Anaesthetists were consistently framed as a temporary emergency measure and their employment formally ended in May 1946 when a medically qualified Resident Anaesthetist was appointed. We briefly consider how these historical patterns \u2013 pragmatic necessity versus professional identity, training variability, medicolegal uncertainty, and the contested temporariness of non-physician roles \u2013 resonate with present-day discussions surrounding Anaesthesia Associates in the United Kingdom.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/0310057x261481918","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]],"date-time":"2026-09-22T12:21:04Z","timestamp":1790079664000},"page":"25-30","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["History repeats itself: Sister anaesthetists in the Second World War \u2013 Lessons from the past"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"54","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0007-9698-6773","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Basel O","family":"Obeidat","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Anaesthesia, Addenbrooke\u2019s Hospital, Cambridge, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1760-2361","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Peter J","family":"Featherstone","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Anaesthesia, Addenbrooke\u2019s Hospital, Cambridge, UK"},{"name":"John V Farman Intensive Care Unit, Addenbrooke\u2019s Hospital, Cambridge, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_3_2_2","author":"Notes compiled by Dr Arthur Rook from Addenbrooke\u2019s Hospital General Committee and House Committee minute books, 1926\u20131952, and minutes of the East Suffolk and Ipswich Hospital board","unstructured":"Notes compiled by Dr Arthur Rook from Addenbrooke\u2019s Hospital General Committee and House Committee minute books, 1926\u20131952, and minutes of the East Suffolk and Ipswich Hospital board. Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Archive Reference AHPP3\/1\/1.","journal-title":"Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Archive Reference AHPP3\/1\/1"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_3_2","unstructured":"Pennell VC. Memorandum to Parsons FB re: nurse anaesthetists at Norwich and Ipswich 6 May 1940. Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Archive Reference AHGR4\/1\/6\/1."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_4_2","unstructured":"Kemp Harris N. Bygone days; and reminiscences of the good old days. Unpublished personal memoirs. Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Archive Reference AHAS2\/1\/43a and AHAS2\/1\/48."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_5_2","unstructured":"Adams AK. Recollections of Addenbrooke\u2019s between 1946 and 1983. Unpublished memoir. Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Archive Reference AHPP13\/1\/9."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_6_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(01)48672-7"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_7_2","first-page":"584","volume":"193","author":"Nursing sisters as anaesthetists","year":"1919","unstructured":"Nursing sisters as anaesthetists. Lancet 1919; 193: 584.","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_8_2","volume-title":"Anaesthesia and the nurse\u2019s duties","author":"De Prenderville A","year":"1919","unstructured":"De Prenderville A. Anaesthesia and the nurse\u2019s duties. London: William Heinemann (Medical Books) Ltd, 1919."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_9_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1046\/j.1365-2044.2002.02833.x"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_10_2","unstructured":"Sub-committee report on the employment of Sister Anaesthetists 21 May 1940. Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Archive Reference AHGR4\/1\/6\/1."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_11_2","first-page":"307","volume":"236","author":"Nurse Anaesthetists","year":"1940","unstructured":"Nurse Anaesthetists. Lancet 1940; 236: 307.","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_12_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(00)78590-4"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_13_2","unstructured":"Bowen WH Pennell VC. Circular to honorary anaesthetists and resident medical staff 24 July 1940. Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Archive Reference AHGR4\/1\/6\/1."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_14_2","unstructured":"Clark AC. Letter to the president of the association of anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland September 1940. Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Archive Reference AHGR4\/1\/6\/1."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_15_2","unstructured":"Clark AC. Personal note to Parsons FB September 1940. Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Archive Reference AHGR4\/1\/6\/1."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_16_2","unstructured":"Cooper J Richards H Youngman HR. Letter to the medical committee chairman 12 September 1940. Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Archive Reference AHGR4\/1\/6\/1."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_17_2","unstructured":"Cooper J Hedgcock W Richards H et al. Collective letter regarding resignation 5 June 1941. Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Archive Reference AHGR4\/1\/6\/1."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_18_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/bmj.2.4160.429-a"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_19_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(00)78652-1"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_20_2","unstructured":"Hill DJ. Sisters anaesthetist at Addenbrooke\u2019s. Hist Anaesth Soc Proc 1992; 11: 22\u201328. https:\/\/www.histansoc.org.uk\/society\/proceedings (accessed May 2025)."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_21_2","unstructured":"Royal College of Anaesthetists. Anaesthesia associates: entry requirements. https:\/\/www.rcoa.ac.uk\/training-careers\/working-anaesthesia\/physician-assistants-anaesthesia-legally-known-anaesthesia-0 (2026 accessed May 2026)."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_22_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1097\/EJA.0000000000000774"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_23_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3138\/cbmh.284-092018"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_24_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/14651858.CD010357.pub2"}],"container-title":["Anaesthesia and Intensive Care"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/0310057X261481918","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.1177\/0310057X261481918","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/0310057X261481918","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,11,6]],"date-time":"2026-11-06T10:45:45Z","timestamp":1793961945000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/0310057X261481918"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]]},"references-count":23,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3_suppl","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,11]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1177\/0310057X261481918"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/0310057x261481918","relation":{},"ISSN":["0310-057X","1448-0271"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0310-057X","type":"print"},{"value":"1448-0271","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]]}}}