Alice magaw biography

Alice Magaw (Kessel) was a pioneer in nursing research and the practice of nurse anesthesia through the publi- cation of her clinical findings.

There, she met and befriended Edith Graham, who later became her classmate in the nursing school at Chicago Hospital for Women and Children. When they graduated in , Magaw remained in Chicago as a private duty nurse while Graham returned to Rochester and went to work at the newly established St. Marys Hospital as a nurse for surgeons Charles H. At the suggestion of their father, surgeon William W.

In April , after more than surgeries, Graham retired to marry Charles Mayo. The Mayos hired Magaw as her successor. The most common anesthetics at that time were nitrous oxide, chloroform and ether. The Mayo brothers strongly preferred ether, which was less pleasant but more effective than nitrous oxide and much safer than chloroform.

All Jobs. Although vaporizer-type inhalers had been developed as early as , they were not commonly used in the U. Her preferred technique involved the Esmarch inhaler, a wire-frame mask covered with cloth onto which she dripped ether from a can. Once the patient was unconscious, Magaw would switch from the first ether can to a second, smaller one, which she applied to maintain anesthesia during the procedure.

She refined her technique through careful research and observation, documenting the unique complications associated with different types of surgeries and different types of patients. Lively career advice, nursing news and the latest RN job openings delivered to your inbox every week.

Alice Magaw (November 9, – February 17, ) was an American nurse known for her work on anesthesia.

Feel inspired by your work. View Sample. As a nurse, Magaw could not submit her findings directly to medical journals, but she later received invitations to lecture before local medical societies, which gave her the opportunity to publish her work.