Should anesthesia residents with a history of substance abuse be allowed to continue training in clinical anesthesia?
The practice of allowing residents who have undergone treatment for substance abuse to return to their training program in clinical anesthesia remains highly controversial. They are often lost to follow-up, making it difficult, if not impossible to determine if re-training in a different medical specialty decreases their risk for relapse. A comprehensive assessment of the outcomes associated with alternatives to re-entry into clinical anesthesia training programs is needed.
When the trauma surgeon was rapidly available (< 15 minutes), there was no difference in emergency department or hospital mortality between in-house and on-call trauma surgeons. Selected subgroups of severely injured patients may benefit from an in-house trauma surgeon. If trauma surgeons are not readily available in an institution, an in-house call policy may be necessary for the prompt resuscitation of critically ill patients.