The role and value of an anesthesiologist in the perioperative setting extends far beyond simple clinical throughput. Anesthesiologists connect both clinically and administratively with almost all facets of their respective health care systems. As the “gate keeper” of the procedural amphitheater, they serve a unique role in ensuring high-risk care is safe and efficient. In many ways, they are the “glue” within our complex health care system, ensuring checks and balances are always in place, and perfectly positioned to respond to administrative needs and challenges.
The tools and data most necessary for anesthesiologists to quantify and demonstrate their value have typically been lacking, making it difficult to meaure our specialty's contribution. Layer on that an often-modest professional demeanor, a view from administration that anesthesiology is merely a cost center, and a fundamental lack of understanding of the specialty, and there emerge good reasons why our specialty is often overlooked or...