And this comes from the PRESIDENT of the American Society of Anesthesiologist Assistants
Again, assertions that AAs and CRNAs function at the same level -absolutely misleading.
And, what's with "anesthesia nurse"? If it sounds condescending in print, can you imagine how it would sound out of his mouth? What arrogance.
At least there is a phone number listed at the end of the article. Let's call Rob and let him know what we think of his little article!
Read carefully, SRNAs, this is a grim foreboding...
----------------------
Licensed anesthesiologist assistants help access to medical care
By Rob Wagner
MY VIEW
Re: "Don't weaken the standards for anesthesia providers" (My View, April 11).
Maybe you or someone you know has had surgery delayed. Perhaps hospitals in your area have closed operating rooms as they have in Miami, Jacksonville, Tampa and else where in Florida.
One reason for growing problems of this nature for patients is a shortage of anesthesia providers. These are the assistants who help physician-anesthesiologists perform the critical task of putting you to sleep before surgery.
There is a common-sense solution rapidly making progress in the Florida Legislature and around the country, which is to license anesthesiologist assistants (called AAs). Key legislative action is expected today in Florida's House Health Care Committee on HB 1381/SB 2332 and it is important that lawmakers support it.
They need to be assured that this legislation will not weaken standards because AAs are highly trained and perform the same function as anesthesia nurses. AAs like myself serve patients in 16 states and have impeccable safety records. AAs have worked with a high level of safety for 30 years in Georgia and Ohio.
AAs are required to have three times the hands-on, clinical training than are most anesthesia nurses who currently assist anesthesiologists. Before we are allowed to enter AA school, we must take the same courses physicians take as pre-med students. Nurses do not do that. In fact, as the chief anesthetist at St. Joseph's Hospital in Atlanta, I am in charge of both AAs and anesthesia nurses.
If you are "going under," who would you rather have assisting the anesthesiologist; someone trained to work directly with him or her, or a nurse? We enjoy our professional relationships with our nursing colleagues. Yet nursing organizations in Florida continue to misinform, even scare the public, calling our profession "new" and "experimental."
Try telling that to the prestigious Emory University in Atlanta or Case Western in Cleveland, which have been training AAs for more than three decades. Or try to tell that to boards of medicine that oversee AAs in the states in which we practice and whose members readily vouch for our safety record.
Try telling that to Medicare, the nation's largest health insurer, which reimburses AAs and anesthesia nurses at the same rate. This means our skill levels are viewed equally. And tell the insurance companies. They charge no difference in fees between anesthesia nurses and AAs, meaning our safety records are equal. Try telling that to the Florida Medical Association, American Medical Association and American Society of Anesthesiologists, whose members resoundingly support our working in Florida. In the era of malpractice crisis, doctors are certainly not going to support "experimental" health care providers.
Why, then, would the anesthesia nurses be opposed to this? In a word, money. Because of nurse shortages, their salaries are artificially high, up to $150,000
in Florida. If you made that kind of living, wouldn't you try to keep the competition out?
This nursing shortage is well documented on the Web sites of Florida schools that train anesthesia nurses, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and yes, even on the anesthesia nurses' own Web site, http://www.aana.org, where the shortage is called "serious" and "acute."
To help relieve the problem, two institutions, the University of Florida and Nova Southeastern, are ready to open special schools for anesthesiologist assistants in Florida. Would those schools offer programs if they didn't think AAs are in great demand? Would they risk their reputations on an "experimental" profession? Of course not.
One AA can mean five more patients per day will get their surgery. That's 1,200 patients per year treated with the help of only one AA. If you are or know one of those patients, I'm sure you would be grateful to the Florida Legislature for passing this common-sense legislation.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rob Wagner is chief anesthetist at St. Joseph's Hospital in Atlanta and
president of the American Academy of Anesthesiologist Assistants, PO Box 13978
Tallahassee, FL 32317 Phone: 656-8848.
NCgirl
188 Posts
Since I do love to call myself a princess, I'm going for "Princess Anesthetist". Kinda has a nice ring to it!