Anesthesia is both a science and an art. While textbooks provide the foundation, much of what makes an anesthesiologist effective, efficient, and adaptable comes from years of hands-on experience.
Anesthesia Tips, Tricks & Treasures is a collection of practical techniques, clinical insights, and lessons learned over more than 30 years of independent anesthesia practice.
Illustrative book mockup — cover design undecided
Printed Book · E-book · App
This is being developed in several formats, including a traditional printed book, an e-book, and an interactive application featuring additional resources and practical tools. Explore the boxes below to learn more about each format and its features.
A Practical Reference You Can Hold in Your Hands
A printed book requires no batteries, internet connection, or electronic device. It can sit on a bookshelf, rest on a desk, or be kept nearby as a reference.
PLANNED FOR PUBLICATIONExplore the printed edition →Practical Knowledge, Wherever You Go
A searchable text allows readers to quickly locate a particular subject, medication, or technique. An interactive table of contents and internal hyperlinks make it easy to move between sections.
PLANNED FOR RELEASEExplore the e-book edition →More Than a Book — A Practical, Interactive Resource
It transforms selected tables, equations, and reference materials into interactive tools, allowing readers to enter patient-specific information, perform calculations, and explore clinical concepts without leaving the application.
PLANNING & DEVELOPMENTExplore the app edition →Sample Content
Written for practicing anesthesiologists and those in training, it explores approaches to everyday challenges, shares solutions to problems encountered in the operating room and office-based settings, and offers ideas that may not be found in conventional textbooks.
In Labor & Delivery we had an issue getting parturients to wear an oxygen mask when "required". Naturally, when breathing heavy during contractions, CO₂ accumulates rapidly making the mask feel constricting and the parturients would remove them.
By cutting off the top of the mask at about the level of the bridge of the nose, you still create a high O₂ space in front of the mouth & nose, but the open top allows CO₂ to escape easily, making heavy breathing more comfortable, improving compliance & SPO₂. This was published in Anesthesia & Analgesia in 1996.
Simple modification of a medium concentration (Hudson type) oxygen mask improves patient comfort and respiratory monitoring with capnography
Anesth Analg. (1996) Jul;83(1):202. Langer RA
Propofol takes about 60 seconds from administration until you can reliably expect to get the maximum effect from the dose you just gave.
If you watch the end tidal CO₂ wave, when you notice a change from the regular waveform, that is when the propofol is really starting to kick in. I also tell this to my surgeons, so it gives them something to do while they are waiting to start.
Open a fresh Tegaderm about 1"/2.5 cm, add an alcohol wipe or two, some IV Catheters, a few gauze and a tourniquet to the package to make little IV placement kits in advance.
You can also accumulate the trash inside the empty Tegaderm package. This makes just one neat little package to pick up & toss in the garbage.
© 2026 Robert Langer, MD. All rights reserved.
The goal is simple: to share what I've learned along the way, in the hope that others will find something useful to incorporate into their own practice.
About the Author
I grew up in Los Angeles, California, attended New York Medical College in Valhalla, New York, and trained in Anesthesiology at NYU in the early 1990s under the great Herman Turndorf, MD, one of a small handful of particularly notable anesthesia program directors in that era.
After completing my training, my primary focus became outpatient and non-traditional operating-room settings, including physician offices and ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs). I kept a part-time hospital practice as well, both to provide balance and to keep my hospital-based skills current.
More about the author →Testimonials & Peer-Reviews
I have invited several experienced colleagues to review the manuscript and share their impressions of its content, practical value, and overall approach.
Selected reviews will be shared here as they become available, with the reviewers' permission.
Once the book is published, I hope to share selected comments and experiences from anesthesiologists and other anesthesia professionals who have read it or used its practical tools and techniques.
Coming Soon
Professional reviews and reader testimonials will be added as they become available.
Read more →