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Hospital for Sick Children


This collection consists of around 100 historical artifacts preserved at the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine of The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids). The bulk of the artifacts date from the 20th century.

The collection includes:

  • Various instruments related to anaesthesia, especially masks, vaporizers.

  • Instruments used to monitor patients under anaesthesia such as thermometers, and pulsemeters.
  • Consumables including disposable airways, endotracheal tubes, and tracheotomy tubes.

  • Medications, especially inhalational anaesthetics for general anaesthesia.

  • Teaching items, including a training doll.

Sources:

An account of the history of anaesthesia at the Hospital for Sick Children can be found
in:

Alan W. Conn, Jeremy Sloan, Robert Creighton, and David Steward. “The Hospital for Sick Children.” in A Commemorative History of the Department of Anaesthesia, University of Toronto. ed. Robert J. Byrick (Toronto: Department of Anaesthesia, University of Toronto, 2004), 179–188.