The first nurse anesthetist recognized is Sister Mary Bernard, in 1877 at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Erie, Pennsylvania
most well-known nurse anesthetist of the nineteenth century, Alice Magaw, worked at St. Mary’s Hospitalc) in Rochester, Minnesota. Dr. Charles Mayo conferred upon Magaw the
title “Mother of Anesthesia” for her many achievements, particularly her mastery of the open-drop
inhalation technique of anesthesia using ether and chloroform. Magaw subsequently published her
1906, in one article documenting more than 14,000 anesthetics without a
single complication attributable to anesthesia. Together Mayo and Magaw were instrumental in establishing
a showcase of professional excellence in anesthesia and surgery. Hundreds of physicians and
nurses from the United States and throughout the world came to observe and learn their anesthesia
techniques.