American Society of Anesthesiologists Acquires Anesthesia Toolbox from Oregon Health & Science University

CHICAGO - The American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) today announced the acquisition of Anesthesia Toolbox, a collaborative education platform and learning community for anesthesiology residency programs, from Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), Portland, Oregon.

Anesthesia Toolbox enables anesthesiology departments and residency programs to create, peer review, and share educational resources to support both residents and educators. The platform has been collaboratively developed by leading anesthesia departments around the world.

Educational resources within Anesthesia Toolbox include e-learning modules, quiz questions, problem-based learning discussions, podcasts, simulation scripts, procedural skills training guides, competency assessments, a video and image library, and more. These resources can be browsed by learners or used by anesthesiology residency programs to create curricula and track learner progress.

“ASA’s acquisition of Anesthesia Toolbox demonstrates the Society’s commitment to educating and providing meaningful engagement for anesthesiology residents and anesthesiologists in their early career,” said ASA President Randall M. Clark, M.D., FASA. “It enables ASA to expand its education portfolio and help build lifelong learners. This initiative is directly aligned with ASA’s goal to strengthen educational strategies, materials, and opportunities for the next generation of anesthesiologists.”

The platform was originally built to help anesthesiology residency programs evolve to competency-based educational models using innovations like e-learning. Resource sharing among programs is common since there are limited financial and other resources available to create new educational material. Anesthesia Toolbox facilitates this on a broad scale, providing a business model and infrastructure to encourage educational collaboration between programs.

Anesthesia Toolbox customers currently include 102 anesthesiology departments and residency programs, which subscribe to the platform for 12-month terms.

Glenn Woodworth, M.D., founded Anesthesia Toolbox in 2014 and has served as its executive director and first editor-in-chief. Dr. Woodworth is currently the associate director of the Regional Anesthesia and Acute Pain Medicine Fellowship and professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine at OHSU.

“This acquisition and transfer of management of Anesthesia Toolbox coincides with my desire to step back from daily management duties and ensure the product lives on and thrives in the trusted, mission-based organization of ASA,” said Dr. Woodworth.

The operational management of Anesthesia Toolbox will remain with OHSU until July 1, 2022.

ABOUT THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF ANESTHESIOLOGISTS
Founded in 1905, the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) is an educational, research and scientific society with more than 55,000 members organized to raise and maintain the standards of the medical practice of anesthesiology. ASA is committed to ensuring physician anesthesiologists evaluate and supervise the medical care of patients before, during and after surgery to provide the highest quality and safest care every patient deserves.

For more information on the field of anesthesiology, visit the American Society of Anesthesiologists online at asahq.org. To learn more about the role physician anesthesiologists play in ensuring patient safety, visit asahq.org/madeforthismoment. Like ASA on Facebook and follow ASALifeline on Twitter.

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