Ask the Experts - The Briggs Adapter
Ask the Experts - The Briggs Adapter
At some hospitals, the T-tube is called "Briggs." Who is Briggs and how did the name become attached to the T-tube adapter?
Ken Phillips, MD
The Briggs Adapter is named after its "inventor," Bernard D. Briggs, MD, now 89 years old and Professor Emeritus of Anesthesiology at Loma Linda University School of Medicine in California.
Dr. Briggs developed the adapter -- which is really a T-piece tube fitting placed on the "equipment end" of an endotracheal tube -- while he was in fellowship on the Harvard Service in the Department of Anesthesiology at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston, in 1947.
The original adapter was used in conjunction with the respiratory care of patients in tank (iron lung) respirators. The adapter allowed air to flow in through a mushroom valve if the negative-pressure iron lung failed. Over the years, many 15-mm tubing adapters have been called "Briggs Adapters," when in fact they were not. Briggs was responsible for the Respiratory Care Department at MGH being staffed with the emerging profession of trained respiratory therapists. Prior to his tenure there, nurses, with only cursory clinical training, had given such therapy.
After a Fulbright Scholarship at Vellore Christian Medical College in India, Briggs returned to Loma Linda University in 1956 where he became Chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology until he retired in 1970.
At some hospitals, the T-tube is called "Briggs." Who is Briggs and how did the name become attached to the T-tube adapter?
Ken Phillips, MD
The Briggs Adapter is named after its "inventor," Bernard D. Briggs, MD, now 89 years old and Professor Emeritus of Anesthesiology at Loma Linda University School of Medicine in California.
Dr. Briggs developed the adapter -- which is really a T-piece tube fitting placed on the "equipment end" of an endotracheal tube -- while he was in fellowship on the Harvard Service in the Department of Anesthesiology at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston, in 1947.
The original adapter was used in conjunction with the respiratory care of patients in tank (iron lung) respirators. The adapter allowed air to flow in through a mushroom valve if the negative-pressure iron lung failed. Over the years, many 15-mm tubing adapters have been called "Briggs Adapters," when in fact they were not. Briggs was responsible for the Respiratory Care Department at MGH being staffed with the emerging profession of trained respiratory therapists. Prior to his tenure there, nurses, with only cursory clinical training, had given such therapy.
After a Fulbright Scholarship at Vellore Christian Medical College in India, Briggs returned to Loma Linda University in 1956 where he became Chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology until he retired in 1970.
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