When anesthesia leaders are left out of operational decisions, the consequences can ripple across scheduling, staffing and surgeon satisfaction, according to Megan Friedman, DO, chair and medical director at Los Angeles-based Pacific Coast Anesthesia Consultants.
Editor’s note: This interview was edited lightly for clarity and length.
Question: Can you talk about what happens when anesthesia isn’t involved throughout the entire care process, and why it’s important to give anesthesia a seat at the table?
Dr. Megan Friedman: Problems happen when decisions are made by people who aren’t on the ground covering these locations every day. For example, one site implemented a scheduling software, and a vendor suggested staffing anesthesia solely based on what was blocked and booked—even though no one knew how to use the system yet.
It showed far fewer anesthesiologists were needed, and leadership thought staffing could be cut. That’s why anesthesia leadership needs to be at the table presenting comprehensive data. People who aren’t involved day to day may look at one small snapshot that doesn’t reflect reality.
Anesthesia data comes from multiple systems — OR, cath lab, GI, bronchoscopy — and anesthesia leadership is the only group that can pull it together holistically. Without that, decisions lead to inappropriate coverage, unhappy surgeons, unhappy anesthesia providers, and attrition. Anesthesia needs to be involved from the start.
