On the Study and Practice of Intravenous Anaesthesia

close circle of anaesthetic scientists but, with the help of computer technology, has greatly influenced the practice of the modern clinical anaesthesiologist.

The efforts of anaesthesiologists, pharmaceutical companies, and the development of the internet has lead to a situation that now almost every anaesthesiologist can be in close contact to anaesthetic pharmacology computer simulation pro­ grams and target controlled infusion devices.

These two tools allow us to in­ crease our understanding and improve the controllability of anaesthetic drug administration, on site, in the operating theatre.

In Europe the growing enthusi­ asm regarding the study and practice of intravenous anaesthesia has lead to an increased output of manuscripts on this subject, the initiation of workshops on the pharmacology of anaesthetic agents and the formation of a society that embodies this spirit; the European Society for Intravenous Anaesthesia, the EuroSIVA.

EuroSIVA The concept of EuroSIVA has been to provide a forum to co-ordinate, facilitate and promote high quality presentations in the area of intravenous drug admini­ stration.

The first two meetings held in 1988 in Barcelona and 1999 in Amster­ dam achieved these aims.

During the Barcelona and Amsterdam meetings pre­ senters of over 10 countries shared their knowledge with 250 and 400 partici­ pants, respectively.

In addition to the EuroSIVA meetings the international board aims to promote education for those involved with intravenous anaes­ thesia.