Opportunities for Anesthesiologists to Improve Health Equity and Quality Measures

ealth equity has been elusive in the field of medicine for centuries.We are all aware of the impact of the social determinants on health equity (see other articles in this Monitor supplement).These social determinants of health are based on the environmental conditions where people are born, live, learn, age, work, and age (Figure 1).For example, cardiologists have identified that patients from a lower socioeconomic status (SES) undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting surgery have increased morbidity and mortality compared to those from a higher SES. 1 Pediatricians noted that higher parental education is associate with lower childhood mortality compared to those with a lower parental education level. 2 A survey of U.S. adults found that those identifying themselves as sexual preference minorities were