From Anesthesiology Gaps to Fully Staffed

From Anesthesiology Gaps to Fully Staffed
Round-the-clock coverage made possible by a successful start-up—marking a first in the hospital leader’s tenure.

Key Takeaways

1. Strong partnership with hospital executives: Goals and needs aligned from the beginning to ensure a successful service transition.
2. Collaborative recruiting effort: Within 15 months, all physician anesthesiologist and CRNA positions were filled.
3. Round-the-clock anesthesia coverage: The partnership provides 24/7 coverage for obstetric, electrophysiological, operating room cases, and codes throughout the hospital.

Challenge

Transitioning to a new partnership can bring some challenges in the best of times, and with an ongoing anesthesiology workforce shortage, transition can prove particularly challenging.

• Workforce shortage in anesthesiology coupled with increasing demand for anesthesia services
• Start-up of new anesthesia services with significant recruitment need
• Aligning demand to staffing while keeping clinician wellbeing a top priority

Action

We partnered with a 133-bed hospital in the Washington, D.C. metro area to provide in-house, round-the-clock anesthesia coverage.

• Exceptional recruitment efforts: Close collaboration with the C-suite and word of mouth helped our team get the right clinicians for the roles.
• Strong culture: The existing strong culture at the hospital coupled with our embedded culture of exceptional patient care ensured the right decisions were made.
• Alignment of demand and staffing: We created a schedule that covered all staffing requirements and maintained a sharp focus on clinicians’ availability and wellness.

TeamHealth’s Regional Medical Director (RMD) and Regional Anesthetist Director (RAD) worked with the Facility Medical Director (FMD) and Chief Anesthetist to create a culture of “yes” at the facility to bring about this change.

Outcome

The fully staffed care team allows for increased case volume, enhanced breadth of patient care, and reliable relationships with the clinical teams, who contribute to the preoperative and postoperative environment. Moreover, process improvement made marked advancements in key metrics, such as a reduction in same day cancellations by using TeamHealth’s recommended pre-anesthesia testing (PAT) which utilizes TeamHealth’s standardized protocols in the PAT Handbook—a comprehensive guide created by our anesthesiology team for standard preoperative lab testing, referrals, and medication management.

• 100% staffing of physician anesthesiologists within seven months
• 100% staffing of CRNAs within 15 months
• Ongoing waiting list for PRN CRNAs to transition to full-time CRNAs
• An average same-day case cancellation rate of less than 1% in first 4 months of 2026
• Additional positive impacts on patient satisfaction, surgeon satisfaction, and patient volume

Why it Worked

We partnered closely with all key stakeholders to ensure a smooth and successful transition. Collaboration extended beyond the leadership team, with clinician referrals and discussions involving the hospital CEO and staff helping identify and recruit the right clinicians for the team. Connect with our team.