Common practice in the USA

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Hi! I'm new at allnurses.com forums and I have one question. I'm from Slovenia, working in anesthesia. I work as an assistant to anesthesiologist, MD. Here in Slovenia it is common practice that anesthesia is provided by a doctor and a nurse, who work together as a team. I do not have the knowledge or skills of the CRNA. My question is, what is the common practice in the USA? Do also exist doctor-nurse assistant teams or is anesthesia provided by one person only(MD or CRNA)?

Specializes in Anesthesia.
.....FROM THE ASA WEBSITE

"An estimated 40 million anesthetics are administered each year in this country. Anesthesiologists provide or participate in more than 90 percent of these anesthetics. "........

You'll understand of course, sc17, that we CRNAs might not accept at face value many stats from the A$A website. One past President of theirs testified under oath to Congress that he had personally delivered 300,000 anesthetics.

!

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Heeeey, I'm a girl!:nurse:

Sorry...throw that around for both genders....ma'am.:)

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I'm not apologizing for you;) - This board does get some wackos and everyone is entitled to a bad/cranky/cynical day. Hey, let's combine the two concepts... maybe some of the wide eyed "I'll be starting nursing school next year, how soon can I become a CRNA" posters would be startled to know that CRNAs aren't so wealthy that they never have a bad day :mad:

AMEN!!!!

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how could you possibly be working as an assistant and not know the answers to this question?

The CRNA is not common in the rest of the world. I had never even heard of them when I lived in Canada, so it isn't surprising that someone from Slovenia wouldn't have known all about them.

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Specializes in Anesthesia.
The CRNA is not common in the rest of the world. I had never even heard of them when I lived in Canada........

33 nations belong to the IFNA:

http://www.ifna-int.org/ifna/page.php?1

.

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I am not sure where you get your information, but according to the AANA from their annual membership survery, over 25% of CRNA administered anesthesia in this country is in private practice, office settings, military, etc. where there is no supervison/medical direction by anesthesiologists. Their data also states that over 70% of the anesthesia administrated in rural hospitals is by solo nurse anesthetists. This information is about two years old, so I requested the most current information from the membership department and will post it when I get it.

Please share your source of information, so we are sure we are both talking about the same data.

One of the things I love about being a nurse anesthetist is the wide variety of practice settings. I have worked in most of them and clearly like private, independent practice the best. However, it is not for everyone, nor should it be. If you need or want to be medically directed, there are many practice settings out there for you.

Thanks for the nice words. As you know, I have been doing this a long time, but not long enough to not question things. I had a long, loud discussion this afternoon in Starbucks with two other CRNAs (one with a PhD and an excellent teacher) about whether or not it is acceptable to give intramuscular diazepam. i said no, the other two said yes. I came home and checked the literature and found that it can be given, but has unreliable uptake from the muscle. Life-long learning and a good healthy discussion are some of the things I love about this field. In case you were wondering, we were discussing the advantages of diazepam for post-op muscle relaxation after submuscular breast augmentation surgery.

I'm off to do some yoga after a tough day witn a grouchy surgeon who caused two experienced nurses and 2 secretaries to cry.

Yoga CRNA

Hey Yoga, this is off topic but I thought I'd through it in for something to chew on. In regards to the muscle relaxation after breast aug. We have a surgeon where I work that started injecting botox on her mastectomies a few years ago for pain control and muscle relaxation. The results have been excellent...I think she has published something on it but not certain. I know an MD that she did one on and used it and she said it was amazing. Only needed nsaids for pain. Food for thought.

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33 nations belong to the IFNA:

http://www.ifna-int.org/ifna/page.php?1

.

Interesting! Still a small number, but I hope it grows. I think CRNAs could be a great thing in Canada. Having ASAs alone is pretty costly.

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Originally Posted by deepz

33 nations belong to the IFNA:

http://www.ifna-int.org/ifna/page.php?1

I see that my country is also on that list, but that doesn't mean we have anything similar to the CRNA. All we HAD, was a post-diploma programme in which we specialised in field anesthesia, but still only as an assistant to the doctor. Right now it's not even possible to enroll in that programme anymore. So, our further education is pretty much in our own hands.

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Hey Yoga, this is off topic but I thought I'd through it in for something to chew on. In regards to the muscle relaxation after breast aug. We have a surgeon where I work that started injecting botox on her mastectomies a few years ago for pain control and muscle relaxation. The results have been excellent...I think she has published something on it but not certain. I know an MD that she did one on and used it and she said it was amazing. Only needed nsaids for pain. Food for thought.

Ray,

That is really interesting. I wil look it up on Medline. Where does she inject it? Send me a private message and let me know where you are in practice. Thanks,

Yoga

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Yoga, tried to send you a pm...says your box is full.

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