Anesthesiology News Presents

Anesthesiology is a specialty experiencing unique changes. On the one hand, there is debate over practice models and supervision rules. On the other hand, there is rapid consolidation of anesthesia practices across the United States.

These two issues are in addition to the potential crisis of a physician anesthesiologist shortage in the coming years. The question that we seek to answer in this episode of “Anesthesiology News presents The Etherist” is whether these issues will lead to positive or negative outcomes for the specialty, and more specifically for the role of physician anesthesiologists.

In episode 2, we ask how these large specialty-specific trends could shape the future of anesthesia care and the pending physician anesthesiologist shortage.

1. Association of American Medical Colleges. The complexities of physician supply and demand: projections from 2018 to 2033. aamc.org/system/files/2020-06/stratcomm-aamc-physician-workforce-projections-june-2020.pdf. June 2020. Accessed September 13, 2020.

2. Daly K. Consolidation in the anesthesiology services market continues with new partnership options. Anesthesiology News. anesthesiologynews.com/PRN-/Article/05-16/Consolidation-in-the-Anesthesiology-Services-Market-Continues-with-New-Partnership-Options/56101. October 23, 2019. Accessed September 21, 2020.

3. Shekar AJ, M’Bodj A, Daly K. Consolidation in anesthesia. providenthp.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Consolidation-in-Anesthesia-.pdf. March 2020. Accessed September 21, 2020.

4. American Association of Nurse Anesthetists. CRNAs: we are the answer. aana.com/docs/default-source/marketing-aana-com-web-documents-(all)/crnas-we-are-the-answer.pdf. Accessed September 21, 2020.

5. American Academy of Anesthesiologist Assistants. Anesthesiologist assistants work states. anesthetist.org/assets/AAAA%20Work%20States%20Map%20June%202019.pdf. June 2019. Accessed September 21, 2020.

6. American Society of Anesthesiologists. Statement on the anesthesia care team. asahq.org/standards-and-guidelines/statement-on-the-anesthesia-care-team. October 23, 2019. Accessed September 21, 2020.

7. American Society of Anesthesiologists. Anesthesiologist assistants. asahq.org/advocacy-and-asapac/advocacy-topics/anesthesiologist-assistants. Accessed September 21, 2020.

“Anesthesiology News presents The Etherist” is back. In Season 2, we dive into the future of the specialty of anesthesiology and the looming physician shortage that could threaten the field as we know it. We start by looking into a recent report from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and its projections of health care–wide physician shortages expected by 2033.

In fact, the AAMC report projects that the United States will experience a shortage of 139,000 physicians, and that anesthesiology—along with specialties like pathology and emergency medicine—will have a shortage between 17,000 and 42,000 physicians. But what do all of these numbers mean for anesthesiologists in the field? Will the specialty actually experience a physician shortage? And what would that shortage look like, if it happens? We have dedicated a new season of The Etherist to answering these questions.

1. Association of American Medical Colleges. The complexities of physician supply and demand: projections from 2018 to 2033. aamc.org/system/files/2020-06/stratcomm-aamc-physician-workforce-projections-june-2020.pdf. June 2020. Accessed September 13, 2020.

2. Birk S. Looming anesthesiologist shortage fuels high market demand. Anesthesiology News. anesthesiologynews.com/PRN-/Article/08-19/Looming-Anesthesiologist-Shortage-Fuels-High-Market-Demand/55607. August 13, 2019. Accessed September 13, 2020.

Season 2 of Anesthesiology News presents The Etherist is almost here!

In this brand-new season, we explore the truth and myths behind a looming physician anesthesiologist shortage, based on reports from the Association of American Medical Colleges. Those projections show a potential shortage of nearly 139,000 physicians in the United States, with anesthesiology being among the key specialties to suffer. But will anesthesiology really experience a physician shortage at all? And if so, how will we get to that point?

We aimed to answer those questions, but along the way we discovered some unexpected trends that are already transforming anesthesia care into something profoundly different today.

In Season 2, we explore a series of forces that are already shaping anesthesiology including advances in medical technology, changing practice models, evolving business trends, diversity, the COVID-19 pandemic, and federal laws that could considerably affect the future of the specialty.

This is not a story about a simple statistical projection of a physician anesthesiologist shortage. It is a story about the future of a specialty…

The crisis of drug shortages, largely misrepresented by debates about a need for better policy, is fundamentally about the patient–provider relationship. This ongoing crisis continues to put providers in the uncomfortable position of whether to inform a patient of the problem.

In addition to that predicament, companies and organizations continue to search for solutions to the shortages, with little progress so far. But a breakthrough may be close as emerging advanced technology and improved communication among industry, policymakers and providers are increasing the options available for alleviating this crisis. Those efforts could hold the potential to make these drug shortages and the ethical dilemma inherent in the patient–provider relationship obsolete.

From the shortages of quinine during the U.S. Civil War to the sudden lack of saline bags in the wake of Hurricane Maria, the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry has continued to struggle with health care demands. Those resulting shortages have led to unique and complicated situations across the country throughout modern medical history. But one organization has always had the power to create meaningful change in that overburdened industry: the federal government.

Using regulatory agencies and legislative efforts, people within government could use that power to force shifts in manufacturing practices to improve outcomes and eliminate disruptions in the drug supply chain. And after all this time the question still remains: Where should they start? How can the very same regulators and legislators who watched these problems arise make the necessary changes to reverse the course in this drug shortage crisis? Join us as we explore the possibilities of government action to fix the drug manufacturing system.

Despite the focus on drug shortages, the nationwide decline in available saline bags was one of the most daunting shortages in recent years. It started in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, which devastated many islands in the Caribbean in September 2017, including Puerto Rico, where nearly all of the U.S. supply of saline bags was manufactured.

That disaster revealed health care’s fragile supply side in the United States, and how manufacturing consolidation can lead to major shortages for basic medical supplies. Understanding how health care manufacturing works—and how it doesn’t—could unlock the answers to preventing these shortages in the future.

In the early months of 2018, a shortage of hyperbaric bupivacaine swept across the country affecting providers and their normal ability to care for their patients. The world of anesthesiology was rattled, but through the efforts of several leaders in the field, the drug shortage didn’t become a debilitating crisis.

This is the first episode of “Anesthesiology News presents The Etherist,” the new series that tells the story of ongoing anesthesia and analgesia drug shortages affecting patients and providers across the country.

This is the final teaser for Anesthesiology News presents The Etherist, the new podcast series that tells the story of ongoing anesthesia and analgesia drug shortages affecting patients and providers across the country. The first episode of The Etherist comes out next week.

This is the first teaser for the new series from Anesthesiology News. The Etherist tells the story of the ongoing anesthesia and analgesia drug shortages that have been affecting anesthesiology across the United States. The series examines the causes and major effects of the shortages, as well as the numerous proposed strategies to solve this problem for good.