Orkin FK, McGinnis SL, Forte GJ, Peterson MD, Schubert A, Katz JD, et al. United States anesthesiologists over 50: Retirement decision making and workforce implications. Anesthesiology.117(5):953-963, November 2012.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/ALN.0b013e3182700c72
Anesthesiology is among the 21 medical specialties that have or are expected to have a physician shortage in the near future. Physician workforce shortages reflect the confluence of many trends, including an aging physician population, burdensome medical-education indebtedness, a relatively static production of new physicians, reduced physician work hours, growth and aging of the general population, growth and expansion of health services, and enhanced access to health care. To increase our understanding of such issues in relation to the work effort and retirement decision making of older anesthesiologists, the American Society of Anesthesiologists participated in a survey of U.S. physicians aged 50 yr and older, which aimed to identify the major factors influencing their decisions to remain clinically active or to retire and then evaluated the impact of their retirement decision making on the size of the clinical workforce now and into the future.