Major issues facing academic departments of anaesthesia in Canada

Two conditions must be present for a successful and strong department: (1) the utilization of operating rooms must be efficient, patient volume must be adequate and turnover rate be rapid, if the clinical income of academic staff is to be equal to that of nonacademic anaesthetists. This is really difficult with the surgical teaching that takes place in teaching hospital operating rooms. But if university hospital operating rooms are not comparably efficient, clinical incomes for academic anaesthetists are not competitive to private practice. (2) the university (i.e. the provincial government) must pay staff adequately for their academic time so that high-grade people will accept and stay in academic posts. Part-time staff deserve to be remunerated for their contributions, whatever the magnitude, or motivation to do it is minimal. If these basic criteria of financing a department are fulfilled, development of the academic functions will follow. Strong academic departments will be producing the capable anaesthetists to fulfill the manpower needs of our specialty in Canada. If not, more departments will atrophy and the manpower situation for anaesthetists in Canada will be in an acute crisis.