The Pediatric Anesthesia Leadership Council (PALC) was formed in 2009 by visionaries Dean Kurth, Desmond Henry and Randy Clark to advance the specialty by meeting as a group to map strategies and solve problems together. The council is comprised of the chairs of Departments of Pediatric Anesthesiology in Children’s Hospitals, chiefs of Divisions in Departments of Anesthesiology, directors of pediatric anesthesia divisions in other Departments in Children’s Hospitals, as well as the Chair of the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia, the Chair of the ASA Committee on Pediatric Anesthesia, the Chair of the AAP Section on Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, the pediatric representative in the SAAA, and the Chair of the Pediatric Anesthesia Program Directors.
The purpose of the PALC is to provide a forum for the leaders of the Departments and Divisions of Pediatric Anesthesia to create a common network that fosters the sharing of ideas and identification of commonalities and differences. The ability to collaborate and engage within the leadership of pediatric anesthesia departments and divisions allows the members to share experiences and to grow together to ultimately strengthen the profession. Networking at this level can provide instantaneous communication with regard to important topics in our field with input from a large cohort to be more efficient and effective. The missions are to use this common link for joint discussions of shared challenges as well as to foster faculty and staff development and academic excellence to ultimately improve care for our patients and their families.
Since the formation of the PALC, challenges that have been tackled include the following:
- Formation and support of Pediatric Anesthesia Advanced Fellowships in collaboration with PAPD
- Professionalism curriculum and seminar
- Pain Challenges and Models
- Leadership Development
- Metrics and Profiles
