I want to thank my readers, as theanesthesiaconsult.com reached 1,000,000 views this week.
The website was born in 2010 when I posted multiple columns I originally wrote for the Stanford Anesthesia Department publication The Gas Pipeline. Over the following months I added a series of columns aimed at laypeople, answering frequently asked questions about anesthesia.
The website reached only a few thousand viewers the first year, but I kept writing and the readership grew. By 2017 the number of columns grew to the current total of 148 pages. The crescendo in traffic was progressive, with a recent boom to a level of approximately 11,000 views per week, and a pace to reach over 500,000 readers per year. Thirty-five percent of the clicks are on columns aimed at anesthesia/medical professionals, and 67% of the clicks are on columns aimed at the public. My readers reside in over 100 countries from around the world.
The website has been an adventure for me. I write and control everything as a one-man production. The platform is a WordPress.com template, and my only expense is $18 per year to WordPress for website hosting. I’ve never paid a penny for Internet search engine optimization, or for efforts to rise toward the top on Google search lists.
I enjoy corresponding with readers, and I frequently write columns in response to a request or question from a reader. In addition to writing about my own experience and training, I rely heavily on Pubmed.com as my source of knowledge of the peer-reviewed medical literature, which I frequently summarize and refer to for my readers.
Three sets of editors have contacted me to write chapters for their anesthesia/surgical textbooks on topics I’ve written about on my website. A leading university anesthesia program invited me to travel to their hospital and lecture as a Visiting Professor. Attorneys from 20 states have contacted me for opinions on legal cases.
Writing is a passion, but my primary job is still clinical anesthesia. I attend to patients before, during, and after surgery, five days a week. I’ve personally administered more than 25,000 anesthetics over 33 years, and have no plans to retire soon.
The success of theanesthesiaconsultant.com would not be possible without my readers, and I thank you all. I’ll keep writing, and I invite you to keep reading.
Thanks a million!
Rick Novak, MD
The most popular posts for laypeople on The Anesthesia Consultant include:
How Long Will It Take To Wake Up From General Anesthesia?
Why Did Take Me So Long To Wake From General Anesthesia?
Will I Have a Breathing Tube During Anesthesia?
What Are the Common Anesthesia Medications?
How Safe is Anesthesia in the 21st Century?
Will I Be Nauseated After General Anesthesia?
What Are the Anesthesia Risks For Children?
The most popular posts for anesthesia professionals on The Anesthesia Consultant include:
10 Trends for the Future of Anesthesia
Should You Cancel Anesthesia for a Potassium Level of 3.6?
12 Important Things to Know as You Near the End of Your Anesthesia Training
Should You Cancel Surgery For a Blood Pressure = 178/108?
Advice For Passing the Anesthesia Oral Board Exams
What Personal Characteristics are Necessary to Become a Successful Anesthesiologist?