From joining state organizations to pushing procedures to the ASC setting, three anesthesiologists joined Becker's to discuss the smartest move they've made in the last year.
Question: What's the smartest move you've made in the last year?
Editor's note: These responses were edited lightly for clarity and length.
John Bramhall, MD, PhD. Professor of Clinical Anesthesiology at the University of Washington (Seattle): The smartest move, for me, was engaging much more actively with my (Washington) State Medical Association. These state organizations advocate for the interests of physicians, act as a conduit for political representation and as an informational resource for busy clinicians who otherwise would have difficulty keeping track of consequential activity in the legislature, the courts and the various commissions that regulate and influence medical practice.
Mark Destache, MD. Anesthesiologists in St. Paul, Minn.: The best thing I did in the last year was reducing my full time equivalent status giving me a little more time off. I do locums on the side and was doing that almost every week of vacation I had.
Taif Mukhdomi, MD. Pain physician of Pain Zero (Columbus, Ohio): Exploring early ASC options and investments has been the most important move this past year; especially with creating service lines and interventions not wholly dependent on anesthesia services. With advances in medications and minimally invasive procedures, medical conditions can be treated with less trauma. There continues to be a supply issue with anesthesia services as it grows into new sites of operations. With nurse anesthetist training moving from two year programs to three year programs, the loss of a class is felt across the country. Anesthesiology assistants are also not able to practice across the country, limiting practice and supply efforts. Moving into ambulatory surgery centers for care and being versatile enough to minimize anesthetic services has been paramount.