Anaesthesia provision, infrastructure and resources in the Heilongjiang Province, China: a cross-sectional observational study

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to explore the current status of the anaesthesia provision, infrastructure and resources in the Heilongjiang Province, China. DESIGN: A cross-sectional observational study of hospitals, anaesthesiologists, assistant anaesthesiologists and anaesthetic nurses in the Heilongjiang Province. SETTING: All hospitals in the Heilongjiang Province. PARTICIPANTS: The hospitals, anaesthesiologists (attending physicians, associate chief physicians and chief physicians), assistant anaesthesiologists (licenced assistant physicians, resident physicians and other trainees) and anaesthetic nurses. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Standard descriptive statistics (percentages and numbers) were used to summarise the data. RESULTS: The investigation involved 1123 hospitals, 405 of these hospitals had anaesthesiology departments (36.06%). There were 2406 anaesthesiologists, 175 assistant anaesthesiologists and 409 anaesthetic nurses. The proportion of anaesthesiologists was 56.60% in tertiary hospitals, 40.15% in secondary hospitals and 3.25% in primary hospitals and ungraded hospitals, respectively. Anaesthesiologists were present in 91.20% of public hospitals and 8.80% of private hospitals. Anaesthesiologists were present in 83.55% general hospitals and 16.45% of specialised hospitals. The Heilongjiang Province has a total of 2041 operating rooms and 543 beds in recovery rooms. The number of anaesthesia cases per capita per year was 326.86. The percentages of anaesthesiologists’ age ≥46, 36–45, 25–35 and <25 are 24.03%, 41.80%, 33.91% and 0.27%, respectively. The proportions of resident physicians and attending physicians were 60.87%, and the proportions of associate chief physicians and chief physicians were 39.13%. The proportions of anaesthesiologists working >12 hours, 10 hours≤time≤12 hours, 8 hours≤time<10 hours and <8 hours were 0.55%, 22.04%, 64.30% and 13.11%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The present study demonstrated for the first time that the proportion of anaesthesiologists in the Heilongjiang Province, China, is still insufficient. The structure of anaesthesiologists needs to be optimised.