Dr Richard Henker on Nurse Anaesthesia and Expanding Surgical Access Globally

Advanced Practice at the Frontlines: Nurse Anaesthesia and Equitable Surgical Care in Low-Resource Settings.

Did you know that limited anaesthesia capacity is one of the biggest barriers to life-saving surgery in low-resource settings? Join us for an interactive session with Dr Richard Henker, a Professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing. Dr Henker has extensive experience in global anaesthesia education and health systems strengthening.

This will be conducted live on Zoom.  

What would you like to ask Dr Henker?

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Dr Henker invites questions on the following topics:

Nurse anaesthetists, as advanced practice nurses, are essential to expanding access to surgical, obstetric, and trauma care, particularly in settings with severe shortages of anaesthesia providers.

Limited anaesthesia capacity directly constrains access to cesarean delivery, a life-saving intervention for maternal and neonatal outcomes, making anaesthesia access fundamental to improving obstetric care.

Many low- and middle-income countries fall far below global surgical access benchmarks; for example, countries such as Lao PDR perform approximately 600 surgical procedures per 100 000 population, compared with more than 10 000 procedures per 100 000 population in high-income countries.

Importantly, colleagues in low-resource settings often deliver anaesthesia care with a smaller environmental footprint, relying on low-flow techniques, regional anaesthesia, and efficient resource use, approaches from which high-income health systems can learn to reduce the climate impact of anaesthesia while expanding access to essential care.

About Dr Richard Henker

Dr Richard Henker is a Professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing with extensive experience in global anaesthesia education and health systems strengthening.

His current research focuses on global health initiatives and global anaesthesia quality improvement, including the development and implementation of the Operative Encounter Registry in collaboration with the World Health Organization.

He has worked with Ministries of Health and clinical partners across South-East Asia and other low-resource settings to advance nurse anaesthesia education, workforce development, and standards of practice.

He currently serves as Vice President of the Permanent Council for the Global Alliance for Surgical, Obstetric, Trauma and Anaesthesia Care (G4 Alliance) and is actively engaged in international nurse anaesthesia and global health initiatives.