ANESTHESIA
Research Interest Group (ARIG)

Mission

Optimizing care and resourcing for the wartime surgical specialties requires high-quality evidence.  A tri-service effort is required to align existing research and best practice implementation with lessons learned from providing care to wounded warriors during theater operations.  Evaluation of research priorities and analysis of gaps in the literature are critical activities to support nurse anesthetists in providing anesthesia care in both the resuscitative and follow-on settings. 

For example, topics of best practices of wartime relevance include personnel-oriented topics such as clinical and operational readiness, and clinically oriented topics such as goal-directed fluid therapy, management of hemorrhage, management of pain, management of prolonged anesthesia care, and effects of anesthetics on the injured brain.  A coordinated tri-service effort will build upon existing efforts to create programs of research to advance the knowledge in these relevant areas, and to coordinate the translation of that knowledge into evidence-based practices that support highly reliable care.

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Vision

The ARIG is chartered to collaboratively develop a research and Evidence-Based practice agenda that will align resources, support rigorous scientific inquiry and support the advancement and translation into clinical practice of knowledge to improve the readiness of our providers to perform in the operational setting and the quality of anesthetic and resuscitative care provided to wounded warriors and other Military Health System beneficiaries. In 2021, the ARIG consisted of 108 members, and produced 3 publications and 7 funded research studies among leaders and members.