ASA January 2004 Newsletter

Making Our Voices Heard

Michael F. Aziz, M.D., Co-Editor
Residents’ Review

In today’s volatile economic environment, it has become much more apparent that we must become politically involved in order to protect our careers as future anesthesiologists. There are increasing pressures from various groups to reduce our scope of practice and limit our compensation for the services we provide. At the ASA 2003 Annual Meeting last October in San Francisco, California, John M. Zerwas M.D., a board member of the ASA Political Action Committee (ASAPAC) spoke with residents. He advised upon a multitude of ways by which we can make our voices heard in a broad political forum. The following summarizes his recommendations to future anesthesiologists.

First, become board-certified. We take a multitude of tests as we educate ourselves as physicians. Each step of the way identifies our accomplishments and skills in the future medical field. The American Board of Anesthesiology (ABA) maintains the highest standards of education for its physicians and recognizes each board-certified member as having upheld these standards. Today there is much more meaning to specialty recognition than in the past —anesthesiologists must take advantage of this.

Get involved in the medical staff. As anesthesiologists, the majority of our work is done in the hospital setting. More and more decisions regarding anesthesiology practice are made by hospital administrative staff. By getting to know these people and becoming involved in their discussions, we stand to be perceived by our leaders as physicians who are crucial to the function and integrity of a hospital. Knowing our own staff fosters respect among our colleagues as physicians who care both about the integrity of the profession and maintaining safe patient care.

Become an active member of your anesthesiology society. There is opportunity for involvement with anesthesiology groups at the national, state and local level. Becoming an active member of these groups allows us to be in touch with the issues concerning our practice at various levels. Many decisions regarding compensation and nurse anesthetist scope of practice are being made at the state level. Each component state society is aware of these issues and is looking for your help to influence state legislators.

Finally, participate in legislative affairs. As decisions for our future are being made in Congress and among state legislators, we need to have an impact on these representatives. ASAPAC spends its money not to buy votes but to buy time to sit and talk with legislators. Many legislators are simply not aware of issues in anesthesiology. Our PAC educates legislators of the importance of anesthesiology in medical care and how physician involvement needs to be protected. Participation can come in the form of financial support to lobby legislators. In addition to ASAPAC, we can make an impact ourselves, especially at the state level. Getting to know your legislator and his or her staff gives you a way to voice your own opinions. At the state level, legislators are often very willing to sit with their constituents and learn about the importance of safe medical care. Certainly the most direct method of impacting legislation is to become a legislator. Clearly not every one of us is a politician, but those with strong political skills stand to have a tremendous positive impact on our profession.

As a result of lobbying efforts last year, the Medicare reimbursement schedule was changed, resulting in an increase of salary by approximately $4,000 per anesthesiologist. For $25, the cost of a resident membership, this is an outstanding return on investment. Join the ASAPAC through the “Members Only” section of the ASA Web site.

Please send any topic ideas, sample articles or questions to the editors of the “Residents’ Review” at <residents.review@ASAhq.org>.

Michael F. Aziz, M.D., is a CA-2 resident at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

return to top