Dr Ian Hamilton McDonald, MBBS, DA, FANZCA: The evolution of paediatric anaesthesia and intensive care at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne

Abstract

Dr Ian Hamilton McDonald (1923–2019) was a pioneer of paediatric anaesthesia and intensive care at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne. He first started working at the hospital in the 1940s, later doing further training from 1953–1955 at the Nuffield Department of Anaesthesia in Oxford under Sir Robert Macintosh. McDonald returned to Melbourne as assistant director supporting Dr Margaret (Gretta) McClelland as the director of anaesthesia, together pioneering the development of a major paediatric anaesthesia department. McDonald, along with Dr John Stocks (1930–1974), was intimately involved in pioneering prolonged nasotracheal intubation in children, following on from earlier work by Dr Bernard Brandstater (an Australian working in Beirut), and Drs Tom Allen and Ian Steven in Adelaide. Ian McDonald was an influential, highly respected and greatly loved paediatric anaesthetist who had a profound influence on the early days of paediatric anaesthesia in Australia.