• U.S. Anesthesia Workforce and Group Practice Trends: Data Sources and Research Questions
• October 24 (PI423)
• 2:10-3:10 p.m.
• BCEC, 253ABC

“All numbers being presented are wrong.”

That’s the disclosure attendees will receive at the opening of today’s Refresher Course Lecture titled “U.S. Anesthesia Workforce and Group Practice Trends: Data Sources and Research Questions.”

The disclosure is a tongue-in-cheek statement on the complexities involved in using data to predict such things as workforce trends, and supply and demand in the marketplace.

Thomas R. Miller, Ph.D., M.B.A.

Thomas Miller, Ph.D., M.B.A., ASA’s Director of Analytics and Research Services and Director of the Center for Anesthesia Workforce Studies (CAWS), will review historical research and update the audience on the latest workforce data and analytics compiled by CAWS and the resources it plans to offer in the future.

The objectives of the session are to:

• Identify sources for U.S. anesthesia workforce data and highlight their potential and limitations.
• Separate popular declarations and myths from evidence-based trends concerning the anesthesia workforce, including group practice characteristics and geographic distribution of anesthesia professionals.
• Develop a short list of anesthesia-related research questions to review or undertake.

Historical and current perspectives on workforce-related analytics will be represented at the session.

Not quite a year old, CAWS has become ASA’s primary source for workforce-related data, analytics and research. It uses multiple sources to manage longitudinal data to identify the supply of anesthesia professionals and address critical workforce issues in anesthesia and perioperative services.

Ever-expanding, CAWS has recently begun working with the American Board of Anesthesiology on workforce-related issues and has welcomed ASA Treasurer Mary Dale Peterson, M.D., FASA, as its physician liaison.

ASA members are urged to attend this first-ever CAWS session at the ANESTHESIOLOGY annual meeting and share their thoughts on the direction of future CAWS initiatives.