Presentations on the anesthesiology workforce often include a graph like Figure 1, which shows the estimated number of practicing anesthesiologists by age. It is especially interesting because of the drop in the supply of anesthesiologists ages 46-54 years (as of December 2021), which resulted from the substantial decrease in anesthesiology residents in the 1990s. In Figure 1, I identified the baby boomers, partly because they are approaching retirement, and partly because that is the “generation” to which I belong. But is such a designation meaningful?
Of course, there are generations besides the baby boomers. I'm reminded of this frequently by emails from news services I subscribe to that have generational references in the titles of stories. I became curious about generations research and its use in workforce and health services-related research. A quick search on PubMed shows that generational research has been a topic in the life sciences...
