RT Book, Section A1 Iserson, Kenneth V. SR Print(0) ID 57374178 T1 Chapter 16. Anesthesia: Ketamine, Ether, and Halothane T2 Improvised Medicine: Providing Care in Extreme Environments YR 2012 FD 2012 PB The McGraw-Hill Companies PP New York, NY SN 978-0-07-175497-2 LK accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=57374178 RD 2024/03/28 AB A group of anesthesiologists familiar with international disaster relief operations wrote, "There is a danger of the modern practitioner becoming an ‘anesthetic dinosaur,' unable to survive except in a sophisticated technological environment."1 Inexperience with ketamine, ether, and halothane, anesthetics commonly used in developing countries, may come to haunt those trying to deliver inhalational anesthesia in austere circumstances. Ketamine is an easy and safe anesthetic to give, even by non-anesthetists; ether is extremely safe, portable, and deliverable by improvised means. Modern anesthetists often lack a familiarity with halothane. Therefore, a description of these three anesthetics will help clinicians deliver safe anesthesia.