After organising, chairing and teaching on a recent multidisciplinary workshop on postoperative pain in Munich, I was to attend a Beer Hall in the centre of this fine city. As I sat there, sipping the occasional aliquot of fine German lager, I found myself pondering over many things. As a result of tiredness and intellectual exhaustion, my recollection of my thoughts at that time is not complete.

The speciality of anaesthetic and recovery nursing has grown from a foundation of hard evidence that the majority of anaesthetic complications occur in the post operative period, and there is a need for a highly trained and experienced nurse with skills and expertise in caring for patients during this critical period. This development during the late 60's and early 70's was shaped by anaesthetists and has over the years been continually developed and enhanced by nursing. Post Anaesthetic nursing practice is now an integral part of the perioperative process, with some suggesting that recovery nursing is largely distinct from the other perioperative skills and should be treated as such in terms of education and planning.

Jane Bovey has long been a member of BARNA, and has recently left her job in the private sector as a recovery nurse to work with an agency. Jane decided to write a column in the journal to express concerns felt by many nurses working in anaesthetics and recovery. Jane also wanted to promote debate on some contentious issues, and welcomes replies to her column. If you have a reply, send an email: theeditor.bjarn@k-2.org.uk or BJARN, 6 Bromyard Avenue, Walmley, Sutton Coldfield, B76 IRQ. The views expressed in this column are entirely of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those held by the British Anaesthetic & Recovery Nurses Association.

Whilst there is a multitude of literature available on the efficacy of continuous epidural infusions following major surgery (Buggy & Smith 1999, Rawal 1998, Macintyre & Ready 1997), little attention is paid to the administration of these infusions. Some hospitals keep patients in HDU/ITU (Audit Commission, 1997) following surgery because of problems in administration of epidural infusions on the ward. This article describes an innovation in epidural administration which has been successfully implemented in two NHS Trusts. The system is safe, cost effective and allowed us to use our existing syringe pumps.

Chicago Illinois, home to both IFNA and AANA, this year hosted the 6th world congress for nurse anaesthetists. The largest convention for this nursing speciality the world has ever seen. Over 3000 delegates from over 22 countries attended this 5-day conference, encompassing clinical workshops/ presentations, management/education forums, political debates together with an impressive commercial exhibition and a poster presentation. I was fortunate indeed to replace Clara Bradshaw on this occasion as the UK National Representative and it was an experience that I will not forget.

The recent years of poor pay, increasing workload and lack of a proper career structure have led to many staff feeling undervalued and demoralised. More are turning to agency work as a way of 'topping up' wages or even working for agencies as the sole employer to achieve flexibility in working patterns. Balfor Recruitment Group deals with staff with a variety of skills, finding anything from an occasional shift to full time work. I know that this includes some of you. However, I doubt you know much about my side of the work so I have been asked to tell you about it. I look forward to hearing whether you find it interesting and whether you learnt anything new!