2021 Volume 41 Issue 2 Pages 156-159
Recently, there has been a shortage of anesthesiologists in Japan. However, it is difficult to evaluate this objectively as there are no definitive means of quantifying their staffing at hospitals. Our hospital is forced to limit days off for full-time anesthesiologists to ensure the functioning of the operating room. To counter this problem, we tried to quantify and evaluate staffing by focusing on full-time anesthesiologists. Their average number, calculated from current weekday full-time anesthesiologists only and assuming that days off could be secured, would be 2.31 people/day, which is insufficient to run the operating room. However, by hiring one part-time senior anesthesiologist for the weekends and holidays, the average would increase to 2.81 people/day, allowing a little leeway to run the operating room during the weekday without limiting days off. These quantified results indicate the possibility of improving the working conditions of full-time anesthesiologists, by efficiently allocating part-time anesthesiologists.
