Funding GME funding is a large issue for all of medicine. Preservation of our excellent anesthesiology education system depends upon adequate funding for the programs. ASA will work with SAAC and AAPD in this endeavor. ASA will additionally work with the Association of American Medical Colleges and AMA to ensure appropriate support of physician training in the future. The elderly are the fastest growing segment of the population.
Older patients have a more variable, and often more exaggerated, response to anesthesia.
I will encourage the Committee on Geriatric Anesthesia in its efforts to develop an online syllabus on geriatric anesthesia. If ASA members want a printed copy of the syllabus, they can download the material from ASA's Web site and print their own copy. I believe ASA will be acting in the public' s best interest if we increase our understanding of geriatric patients' physiology. ASA should encourage research in geriatric anesthesiology through our foundations. I am pleased that the Section on Fiscal Affairs believes that funding to our three foundations should be continued at current levels.