Acute care medicine. A community hospital practice

This article describes the efforts of a group of anesthesiologists at Rex Hospital in Raleigh, North Carolina, to provide a wide range of anesthesiology and perioperative services. The group's philosophy that anesthesiologists are best positioned to provide such a range of services is exemplified by the work that this group performs in a 400-bed community hospital. The group's primary mission is to provide operating room anesthesia and comprehensive perioperative medicine services. This model of anesthesiologists' involvement is one example of the ways anesthesiologists can and should be involved in perioperative medicine and other acute care services in hospitals today to secure a brighter and more stable future for themselves and for their specialty.