ANS AT HOSPITAL SYSTEM

Shortage of ANs at Kaiser Permanente Hospital System

Shortage of ANs at Kaiser Permanente Hospital System

Introduction

Anesthesiology is a critical medical specialty provided by highly skilled professionals. ANs (ANs) are physicians trained to deliver anesthesia, which the professional boards certifies to manage complex surgical procedures. A problem seen in the Unites States and transferred to Kaiser Permanente Hospital is the growing shortage of ANs. Permanente is in Northern Los Angeles, California. It staffs 86% of General and Administrative support, only 12% in Research and Development, and an even smaller amount in Sales and Marketing and Executive Leadership.

With over 8 million health plan members that it supports, 167,300 are staff employees that are trained to support these health plan members; and only 14,600 are physicians and ANs (Maxim Staffing Locations, 2010). With such small quality care, q Kaiser Permanente faces a difficult challenge in staffing its organization while providing quality care to its patients. A shortage in ANs will often reduce high-quality care at Kaiser Hospital and limit growing surgical and intervention procedures for the aging population. Often enough it will also result in delays of non-emergency and emergency surgery.

Problem

The growing concern over whether Kaiser Permanente is facing a shortage of anesthesia providers is the preliminary problem. Evidence suggests that such a shortage exists. Understanding current and future demand and supply for ANs is therefore, critical for policymakers, regulators, and professional bodies, because markets for highly specialized medical services are difficult to balance (Kurtz, 2010). Limits on the number of training positions, regulation of permission to practice, and a limited capacity for wages to respond to market conditions can all lead higher shortages in the absence of proper workforce planning. In addition, market fluctuations and the ever-increasing shortage in ANs will eventually lead to a surplus. Experts predict that if the shortage problem continues the solution will nearly result in a surplus by 2020.

Tropical Area

It takes a wide spectrum of Anesthesiologists to staff the surgery rooms. It describes the training, professional and technical roles, and contribution to the staff of anesthesiologists and other support personnel in the U.S. the issue currently is the shortage of the anesthesiologists, which is hindering the normal medical care operations of Kaiser Permanente.

Anesthesiologists in training in North America and in USA include a vast majority, which forms in residency programs accredited by the Residency Review Committee of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). A residency in anesthesiology requires 4 years of training with rotations in anesthesia, critical care, pain management, postoperative care, and selected areas of medicine, including training programs. However, the enrolment in such programs is not enough to produce the required number of anesthesiologists. The demand of anesthesiologists is on the rise and Kaiser Permanente is one of the many hospitals which face the shortage of anesthesiologists. Some anesthesiologists continue advanced training fellowships in various subspecialties of anesthesia, critical care and pain management.

According to the American Society of Anesthesiologist, there is a current shortage of 3,800 ANs in ...