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ASA’s diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts are not mere window-dressing. We are committed to integrating DEI efforts into each of our seven strategic pillars. We support and empower committees and staff to produce work product that drives meaningful change. And we are developing and tracking objective measures of success, attaching metrics to established DEI goals to ensure we are on track to a more equitably and inclusive future.
Advocating for the highest standard in patient safety and quality of care means ensuring all voices are heard and all patients are well served. We best serve patients and the anesthesiology community by drawing a wide group of practitioners to our specialty, and then ensuring they have the professional environment and resources needed to excel. We fight for the economic integrity of the specialty on behalf of members from all backgrounds and geography; practice types, settings, and structures; throughout their full career cycle; and across the continuum of subspecialty practice areas. We advance initiatives to limit the cost of medical education and minimize debt, protect medical titles and physician-lead team-based care, improve payment, and support greater health equity.
To enhance engagement and value for all members, we work to advance inclusion, community, and belonging throughout the organization. That means more transparency, enhanced mentoring and sponsorship efforts, clear and equitable pathways to leadership, and support for organizational DEI goals across governance and staff teams. ASA aims to deliver individual value across the spectrum of career stage, subspecialty practice, group size and setting, and ownership structure.
Providing ample exceptional and accessible opportunities for current and future anesthesiologists to gain and maintain knowledge and skills is essential for the future of our specialty. ASA is working to integrate DEI-enhancing practices and activities throughout ASA business areas, including education, meetings and events, and publications. Developing, maintaining, and promoting educational resources and learning opportunities that enable anesthesiologists from all walks of life to advance throughout their entire career is an important part of our work.
Developing and promoting leaders from diverse backgrounds and all along their career cycle is essential for the future of the specialty and the optimal care of the patients who rely on us. This means identifying and removing barriers to leadership training and opportunities; nominating and placing anesthesiologists from diverse backgrounds into external liaison roles and national technical expert panels; and developing pathways and mentoring opportunities to encourage anesthesiologists from underrepresented groups to undertake leadership development and engage in leadership roles at the local, regional, and national level.
Every patient deserves exceptional anesthesia care. That is why ASA is working to identify and address anesthesia workforce imbalances as part of our effort to ensure all patients get the care they deserve. We are also developing well-crafted, meaningful performance and outcomes measures to enable practices and departments to demonstrate and improve the value of anesthesia services for all patients, no matter their background, socio-economic level, or where they live.
ASA advocates for increased anesthesiology-related research funding and support so we can address important patient safety concerns such as health equity issues. We support efforts to understand where inequities exist and collaborate to solve problems that stem from inequal access and resource. We aid anesthesiologists engaged in research and discovery through all stages of their career. We nurture members of the anesthesia research community and provide mentorship and leadership development. We are committed to advancing research and discovery that can solve problems impacting diverse communities.
To be a nimble and efficient medical specialty society with strong financial performance, operational excellence, and resource utilization, we are enhancing our organizational capabilities, so we are best situated to address the challenges facing the specialty and the diverse communities we serve. This requires leveraging ASA's expertise to address public health needs for all communities, from working to combat health inequities to tackling the nation's opioid crisis. We are identifying critical segments and conducting needs and gap analyses to better understand how ASA can best support all communities and stakeholders. We support work expressed through ASA Foundations and collaborate with subspecialty societies to advance DEI-related objectives.
Curated by: Ad Hoc Committee on DEI Strategy
Date of last update: April 23, 2024
