Anesthesia
True Collaboration Fosters Perioperative Excellence
OVERVIEW
Fully staffing its practices is one of the areas in which Sound Anesthesia excels — even when starting from scratch. In launching a new practice at a not-for-profit New England medical center, Sound’s on-the-ground anesthesia leaders faced challenges across the board: the incumbent group’s departure saw the need for dependence on locums clinicians while ramping up full-time hires, and Sound inherited a department whose legacy was one of outdated policies, limited resources, and poor interdisciplinary collaboration. Sound’s local leadership dyad — a chief anesthesiologist and chief certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA) — set out to shift the culture, better resource the team, and demonstrate Sound’s reputation for staffing success and perioperative excellence.
OPPORTUNITY
To build a stable team and improve operations in a region new to Sound Anesthesia, local leadership adopted a systematic approach for tackling staffing, resources, and collaboration.
Staffing
With its progressive team model at the forefront of its search, Sound’s local leaders worked closely with its dedicated lead recruiter to bring in CRNA and anesthesiologist candidates who aligned with Sound’s unique and supportive culture. Through personalized job postings and one-on-one conversations with the recruiter, candidates were provided tailored insights on open roles as well as given the opportunity to share their needs and preferences.
This intentional process on the front end brought greater, genuine engagement during on-site interviews that included meeting fellow anesthesia clinicians and members of other hospital teams. Sound’s reputation and philosophy of care — both for its patients and its own clinicians — underscored the quality of practice and the commitment to professional and personal satisfaction.
Resources
In service to creating a culture of stability and consistency, Sound’s associate chief CRNA for this New England practice developed a collaboration with two highly regarded Boston-based universities to provide clinical training rotations for Doctor of Nursing Practice resident registered nurse anesthesia students, creating a pipeline of skilled professionals to support the practice. The leadership team on the ground also introduced a regional anesthesia block competency, which enabled CRNAs to expand their expertise and diversify their skills across specialties such as labor and delivery. In properly resourcing the team, Sound was able to build a more versatile, capable workforce committed to improving patient care and operational efficiency.
Cross-collaboration
To position the practice as a true partner across disciplines within the hospital, and to align on processes and protocols, the team proactively engaged with department leads in pharmacy, pediatrics, labor and delivery, endoscopy, and other specialties to foster collaboration and teamwork within the broader anesthesia department. The Sound team also participated in regular meetings with specialty leaders to assist in implementing key policy and procedural changes for improved efficiency and safety.
Key Results
- The practice is now fully staffed with five full-time and two part-time physician anesthesiologists and 21 full-time and 10 per-diem CRNAs.
- The team operates within a culture of respect and collaboration, empowering each other to have a voice in department operations.
- The culture has improved morale and job satisfaction, with positive implications for retention.
- Approval is up from hospital administration and patients for the overall surgical experience.
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