Background
Brain drain describes the emigration of highly educated professionals from resource deficient countries to wealthier ones.1 This phenomenon profoundly impacts healthcare on a global scale, providing much-needed physician workforce to certain locations while depleting healthcare personnel in resource-limited regions.2 Our study investigates the effects of this phenomenon on the field of academic anesthesiology in Texas. We hypothesize that the anesthesiology faculties of the state of Texas rely on the work of foreign-trained anesthesiologists.
Methods
We compiled a list of anesthesiology residency programs in Texas, and identified the locations (countries, nations, and/or states) of faculty anesthesiologists’ medical schools and residency programs. The number and residency locations of faculty anesthesiologists who had immigrated to the United States following their medical education abroad was recorded.