FairShare evidence summary
Queue management for the assignment of anesthesia clinician breaks
Original source published:
The bottom line
Structured, rules-based assignment of anesthesia breaks substantially increased how many breaks were actually completed on time compared with informal triage — evidence that break delivery is an operations problem with an operations solution. This directly supports investing in systematic break-management processes over ad-hoc goodwill. As a modeling study, real-world gains will depend on implementation fidelity.
What the source found
Modeled queue management strategies for assigning anesthesia clinician breaks across surgical suites with long workdays; structured decision-making processes significantly increased the fraction of breaks completed before surgical closure and within planned time windows compared to informal triage.
Limitations and applicability
Modeling/simulation study; real-world implementation effects may vary; 2026 publication — may not yet be fully indexed.
Population and setting
Anesthesia clinicians in surgical suites (operational modeling study)
Used in FairShare guides
About this evidence
Research question / practical issue
How does this source inform Break Relief, Fatigue, and Safe Handoffs for the population it studied?
Study design, evidence tier, and source class
Peer Reviewed Operations Research · primary source · evidence tier 2
Source type: Peer Reviewed Operations Research · primary · Evidence tier 2
Topics: Break Relief, Fatigue, and Safe Handoffs
Audience: Anesthesiologists, CRNAs, Department Leaders