The Global Anesthesia Workforce Survey: Updates and Trends in the Anesthesia Workforce.

Area of Science:

• Global Health
• Health Workforce Analysis
• Anesthesiology

Background:

• A significant global deficit of anesthesia providers persists.
• Previous efforts, including a 2016 survey by the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (WFSA), aimed to quantify this workforce.
• This study provides an updated global count of anesthesia providers.

Purpose of the Study:

• To update the global count of anesthesia providers.
• To assess changes in anesthesia provider density since previous estimates.
• To identify disparities in anesthesia workforce distribution across countries and income groups.

Main Methods:

• An electronic survey was distributed to national professional societies of physician anesthesia providers (PAPs) and nonphysician anesthesia providers (NPAPs) between 2021 and 2023.
• Data collected included provider and trainee numbers, gender distribution, and intensive care unit (ICU) capacity.
• Descriptive statistics were computed by country, World Bank income group, and World Health Organization (WHO) region, reporting provider density per 100,000 population.

Main Results:

• Responses were received from 172 out of 193 United Nations member countries.
• The global provider density was 8.8 per 100,000 population (6.6 PAPs, 2.3 NPAPs).
• Seventy-six countries reported a physician anesthesia provider (PAP) density below 5, and 66 countries had a total provider density below 5. Physician anesthesia provider (PAP) density increased globally, except in high- and low-income countries and the African region.

Conclusions:

• The global anesthesia workforce has expanded, though some nations face decreases.
• Population growth and varying definitions of "provider" impact density metrics.
• Urgent scaling of anesthesia provider training is necessary, alongside improved workforce data collection and metric definition.