Anaesthesiology

Anaesthesiology at the University of the Witwatersrand, located in Johannesburg, South Africa, is an academic department within a public research university established in 1922. As part of a major teaching and tertiary care network, it supports large public hospitals and plays a central role in specialist training, clinical service, and health systems leadership across the region.

The publication portfolio reflects a strong focus on perioperative safety, paediatric anaesthesia, obstetric anaesthesia, and congenital cardiac surgery outcomes in resource constrained settings. Research addresses critical events, mortality predictors, enhanced recovery pathways, and regional analgesia techniques, alongside large multicentre African surgical outcomes collaborations that shape continental policy discussions.

Additional strengths include health systems innovation such as nurse led preoperative screening tools, cost containment through reduction of anaesthetic drug wastage, and advancing environmentally sustainable anaesthesia. Methodological contributions span clinical trials, cohort studies, consensus development, and applied laboratory science, reinforcing its role in improving surgical care quality and resilience in low and middle income contexts.