Enhancing Our Workforce: Recruitment and Retention in Anesthesiology

Increasingly, both healthcare leaders and studies of healthcare outcomes recommend a medical workforce that is representative of the patient population as a method to reduce health disparities and medical costs. Anesthesiology remains a specialty with lower proportions of women and underrepresented in medicine (URiM) physicians as compared to the overall physician workforce, with 26.1% of anesthesiologists identifying as women and 31.3% of anesthesiologists as URiM. Two areas of focus are commonly identified when discussing inadequate representation in the workforce: recruitment into the specialty and retention in the profession. As medical educators, we provide a critical role in the recruitment and retention of women and URiM anesthesiologists, through implementation of processes, programs, and cultural change. Here, we will discuss the current problems of recruitment and retention of women and URiM anesthesiologists and suggest action plans for now and the future to enhance our specialty's diversity.