Franklin Dexter, MD, PhD, FASA
Introduction
During the past 29 years, Franklin Dexter, MD, PhD, FASA, and his colleagues have developed and improved upon the science of anesthesia group and operating room management. Dr. Dexter completed a Sc.B. in Applied Mathematics & Biology with Honors from Brown University; Master’s Degree & Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering, with specialization in biomathematics, from Case Western Reserve University; M.D. degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine; and Anesthesiology residency at the University of Iowa. He is Professor in the Department of Anesthesia at the University of Iowa. Several times a year, he teaches a four-day intensive course in operating room management. He has given more than 190 invited presentations in the United States and abroad. In multiple editorial positions, he has reviewed greater than 7645 papers and grant applications, for 119 different journals over the past 5 years. As Director of the Division of Management Consulting in the Department of Anesthesia, he has performed more than 865 consultations, for more than 235 corporations. He has published more than 660 papers in the fields of operating room management and anesthesia. His h-index is 76. Details of his background, expertise, contact information, as well as the comprehensive bibliography of scientific papers in OR management, are at FranklinDexter.net.
Current Positions
- Director, Division of Management Consulting, Department of Anesthesia
Education
- BSc in Applied Mathematics-Biology, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island
- MS in Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio
- PhD in Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio
- MD, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio
- Residency in Anesthesia, University of Iowa, Carver College of Medicine, Department of Anesthesia, Iowa City, Iowa
Graduate Program Affiliations
Research Interests
- Quantifying the economic effect of anesthesia and surgical medications and devices
- Applying novel statistical methods to applications in anesthesia research
- Increasing the productivity and efficiency of anesthesia and surgical practices
- Measuring administrative and clinical decision-making using survey and information systems data
Licenses & Certifications
- Board Certified Anesthesiologist, American Board of Anesthesiology, North Carolina
Selected Publications
- Epstein, R. H., Dexter, F. & Fahy, B. G. (2025). Inpatient postoperative mortality: comparing patients hospitalized preoperatively to those having elective surgery. Anesthesiology 143 (1) 62-70. DOI: 10.1097/ALN.0000000000005477. PMID: 40146929.
- Dexter, F., Vasilopoulos, T. & Fahy, B. G. (2025). Adjusting for resident rater leniency or severity improves the reliability of routine resident evaluations of faculty anesthesiologists. Cureus 17 (6) e86366. DOI: 10.7759/cureus.86366.
- Cover, P. & Dexter, F. (2025). Economic value of using electronic transporter applications for post-anesthesia care unit staffing decisions rather than manual logging of transport durations. Perioper Care Oper Room Manag 39 100486. DOI: 10.1016/j.pcorm.2025.100486.
- Patel, S. & Dexter, F. (2025). A scoping review of feedback features during clinical education for anaesthesia trainees. Indian J Anaesth 69 (5) 450-457. DOI: 10.4103/ija.ija_1011_24. PMID: 40364937. PMCID: PMC12068432.
- Dexter, F. & Loftus, R. W. (2025). Chlorhexidine wipes with educational feedback are effective at reducing axilla and groin bacterial contamination at the start of surgery. Anesth Analg 140 (5) 1233-1235. DOI: 10.1213/ANE.0000000000007288. PMID: 39418200.
- Cobler-Lichter, M. D., Jawad, K. A., Yeh, D. D., Dudaryk, R., Dexter, F. & Epstein, R. H. (2025). Has the pendulum swung too far? Discretionary single-unit red blood cell transfusion in trauma is associated with infection, thromboembolic events, and mortality. Transfusion 65 (S1) S146-S155. DOI: 10.1111/trf.18191. PMID: 40091188.
- Dexter, F., Epstein, R.H., Sondekoppam, R.V. & Marian, A. A. (2025). Estimating 90th percentile times to complete multiple pre-operative regional anesthesia procedures to mitigate first-case start operating room delays caused by the nerve blocks. J Med Syst 49 48. DOI: 10.1007/s10916-025-02179-y.
- Chen, P. F. & Dexter, F. (2025). Estimating sample means and standard deviations from the log-normal distribution using medians and quartiles: evaluating reporting requirements for primary and secondary endpoints of meta-analyses in anesthesiology. Can J Anesth 72 (4) 633-643. DOI: 10.1007/s12630-025-02922-6. PMID: 40214867.
- Loftus, R. W., Dexter, F., Parra, M., Hwang, S. M., Robinson, A. M., Charnin, J. E., Loftus, C. P. & Wanta, B. T. (2025). The importance of the detection of Staphylococcus aureus strain characteristics associated with perioperative transmission of antibiotic resistance. Cureus 17 (4) e81885. DOI: 10.7759/cureus.81885. PMID: 40342447. PMCID: PMC12060837.
- Dexter, F., Epstein, R. H., Dutton, R. P. & Hadler, R. A. (2025). Statistical power analyses for quantifying the similarity of categories of surgical procedures among pairs of hospitals and ambulatory facilities. Cureus 17 (4) e81761. DOI: 10.7759/cureus.81761. PMID: 40330393. PMCID: PMC12051755.