A survey of human resources of the Anesthesiology in China: investigation of reform direction of human resources allocation of Chinese medical and health system based on the current status of human resources of the Anesthesiology

Objective To survey the current status of human resources of the Anesthesiology in China and investigate the reform direction of human resources allocation of Chinese medical and health system. Methods Chinese Society of Anesthesiology organized the investigation from March 1, 2015 to June 30, 2015.All the hospitals in which clinical anesthesia was carried out were investigated only in mainland China.The questionnaires contained hospital general information, anesthesia-related information and surgery-related information. Results A total of 16 280 questionnaires were released and 14 076 questionnaires(86.462%)were retrieved.There were 13 489 questionnaires(82.856%)identified as qualified anesthesia-related information ones and 7 026 questionnaires(43.157%)identified as qualified surgery-related information ones.Qualified anesthesia-related information questionnaires showed that there were 77 926 anesthesiologists in total in China, 27 660 000 patients in whom anesthesia was completed inside operating room(OR)and 11 470 000 cases outside OR, one attending anesthesiologist completed anesthesia in 634 cases inside OR and in 263 cases outside OR on average; the number of per capita anesthesiologists was 5.7 per 100 000 population in 2014.The number of per capita physicians per 10 000 population(r=0.735, P<0.05), the number of anesthesiologists per 100 000 population(r=0.537, P<0.05)and the number of per capita patients requiring anesthesia per 100 000 population(r=0.571, P<0.05)were all positively correlated with GDP per capita in various provinces and cities nationwide and autonomous regions.The area having the highest number of per capita anesthesiologists per 10 000 and per 100 000 population was Beijing, the area having the lowest number was Tibet; the area having the highest number of per capita patients requiring anesthesia per 100 000 population was Beijing, the area having the lowest number was Shanxi.The qualified surgery-related information questionnaires showed that the ratio of attending surgeons to attending anesthesiologists was 7.5∶1.0 in China in 2014. Conclusion Although China has a huge number of anesthesiologists, the Anesthesiology is still shortage of anesthesiologists; the imbalanced distribution of human resources exists in different provinces and cities, in hospitals of different scales and between different medical specialties, and economics is one of the important influencing factors.