There are a couple popular adages that ring true now, more than ever – “If you aren't at the table, you are on the menu” and “all politics is local.” Anesthesiologists around the United States have been extremely adept at leveraging their state anesthesia component societies and working in tandem with county and state medical societies to maintain strong grassroots links with their communities and state legislatures. This synergy has allowed anesthesiologists to preserve access to perioperative care, advocate for reimbursement reform, and act as patient safety champions.
However, in California we found that many anesthesiology residents were not aware until much later in their career that organized medicine played such an important role in advocacy. The California Society of Anesthesiologists (CSA) noticed that there was a gap in participation from younger attending anesthesiologists when advocacy events took place. As an effort to improve the visibility of resident involvement, the...
