The bright spot for anesthesia’s future

The anesthesia market has had a challenging last several years, as systems struggle to find qualified professionals in a competitive market.

Often, small systems cannot afford to pay specialists and are left without anesthesia providers, who are critical for virtually every procedure in the ASC setting and beyond.

While things have been looking grim in the world of anesthesia, there could be a bright spot around the corner, Gary Haynes, MD, PhD, professor of anesthesiology at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, told Becker’s. 

Dr. Gary Haynes: Anesthesia is at a critical point. The specialty faces multiple challenges, not the least of which is the shortage of anesthesiologists and other anesthesia personnel. The shortage is due to increasing demand for anesthesia care because of a larger U.S. population, a growing older demographic group, and the need to cover more areas outside and beyond operating rooms. The growth of non-OR anesthesia for diagnostic procedures and the trend toward more surgery conducted in ambulatory and outpatient surgery centers explains the increase in demand.

Despite training more residents than ever before, producing more anesthesiologists has not kept up with the demand. Taken together with a shortage of CRNAs and anesthesia assistants, this imbalance has led to rapidly increasing compensation and competition for anesthesia personnel throughout the county. The economics of anesthesia practice is changing and resulting in significant financial problems for hospitals, ASC and practice managers. On a brighter note, anesthesiology has never been more popular with medical students. All anesthesia residency positions are being filled through the residency match, and competition for those spots is fierce. As a result, the best and the brightest of U.S. medical students are entering anesthesia, which bodes well for the future.