This study was undertaken with the objective of assessing current sour
ces of information for anaesthesia Physician Resource Planning (PRP).
Four major data bases, the annual reports of Health and Welfare Canada
(H&W) the education statistics from the Canadian Post-M.D. Education
Registry (GAPER), the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Cana
da (RCPSC) and the Physician Resource Data System of the Canadian Medi
cal Association (PRDS) were examined for the period 1982 to 1991. The
ratio of the number of surgical (S) to anaesthesia (A) clinicians decr
eased over this period despite an increase in the S:A ratios for train
ees and certificants. The number of female anaesthetists has progressi
vely increased. A steady decline in the number of rural anaesthetists
has occurred. Age distribution of active certified anaesthetists revea
led marked inter-regional differences. Little change was noted in the
total mean hours worked per week. Each database provided valuable, but
limited, data. The PRDS data is useful in assessing trends (age, sex
and practice activity). Information provided by H&W tends to underesti
mate anaesthesia resource information by at least 10%. While informati
on obtained from RCPSC and GAPER is accurate, the current mode of pres
entation of data limits their usefulness. Integrating data from all th
e databases appears to provide a meaningful assessment for PRP rather
than assessing each database in isolation. Interpretation of the infor
mation and its value must take into account the limitations of the dat
a being provided. Assessing present and planning future needs based on
the current information structure will prove extremely difficult.