Is the AA profession gaining ground?

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Another thread peaked my interest on this issue. How fast is the AA profession gaining ground? I thought they were able to practice in only 2 or 3 states last year, but now it sounds like they are able to practice in 16? Will they be able to practice in even more states soon? Comments appreciated

Specializes in Long Term Care.

I once read an article where a brand of ketchup did no advertising b/c there was only the standard condiments. In the the interim, salsa makers started advertising. The sales of ketchup plummeted.

CRNAs are the ketchup. AAs are salsa.

There is a metaphore here. If CRNAs do not stick their noses in, they will become extinct just by not being in the market place and tooting their own horns. And by allowing politics to make them obsolete. Be active... and ever vigilant in the political arena... there is always some one who wants your slice of the pie in addition to their own.

Just my take on this situation....

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Specializes in Anesthesia.
.......If CRNAs do not stick their noses in, they will become extinct.........

Note of reality here: there are 33,000 CRNAs in America, and only a few hundred AAs.

!

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Oh, I get it. I need to do a thousand cases to realize we have multiple threads about the same discussion. This definitely gets me "know-it-all" status.:lol2:

Just trying to give you the prospect of the original argument RN90210.

Its a forum and not yours to dictate. If you don't like the thread, then why do you keep coming here and posting? Stop whining and stop reading it it truly indeed bothers you that much.

Prospect? I think you were looking for the word perspective..

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Please understand something about these two websites. These are commercial websites that have no affiliation whatsoever and is not endorsed by the AAAA or any AA program (there's about five with similar sounding names, and all of the domain names are owned by the same person, who is not an AA).

The official website for the AAAA is www.anesthetist.org .

The question is ... commercial websites for whom? If not for the AAAA or ASA then who else would it be?

I ran across this ad which claims AA's are going to be licensed in California, which couldn't be further from the truth. Yet ... they claim California is going to be the next state to license AA's. They're also claiming there's jobs in Reno when Nevada also doesn't have AA's.

http://reno.newsreview.com/employment/classifieds/ViewAd?oid=oid%3A81504&name=health%2Fsocial%20services

Meanwhile ... someone on the anesthesiaassistant.com message board asked about California and they were finally told the truth ...

Why mislead people into believing they can or will be able to work as AA's in certain states when they can't?

:typing

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Specializes in Long Term Care.

Oh, I understand that just by sheer numbers alone, CRNAs will always be. However, it is good to put wood on the coals so that the fire keeps burning.

If CRNAs just looked the other way, effectively saying,"I have too much work and not enough help." Politics could indeed see to it that AAs have a much larger share of the marketplace than they do now. No AA could ever compare with a CRNA. There is too much of a difference in the education and experience and practice.

Nurses in general have done this, looked the other way while legislatures have allowed unlicensed, uneducated, unregulated individuals to take on nursing responsibilities. Examples include but are not limited to medical assistants, medication aids ect. (I know they have some reqs but please, they can not compare to the education required for nursing)

I have no beef with a requirement for higher education after entry into the profession and specialization after a year or two of experience. However, this slow erosion of nursing is to our professional detriment. I realize we as a profession are getting older and a number of our ranks will be retiring. Exacerbating the shortage. Surely there is a way to get more nuses with out compromising educational standards and patient care.

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The question is ... commercial websites for whom? If not for the AAAA or ASA then who else would it be?

I ran across this ad which claims AA's are going to be licensed in California, which couldn't be further from the truth. Yet ... they claim California is going to be the next state to license AA's. They're also claiming there's jobs in Reno when Nevada also doesn't have AA's.

http://reno.newsreview.com/employment/classifieds/ViewAd?oid=oid%3A81504&name=health%2Fsocial%20services

Meanwhile ... someone on the anesthesiaassistant.com message board asked about California and they were finally told the truth ...

Why mislead people into believing they can or will be able to work as AA's in certain states when they can't?

:typing

The anesthesiaassistant.com website is a commercial website with no affiliatin with AA's or the AAAA. COMMERCIAL is the key word. Every one of those links to manufacturer and employment agency websites generates a commission every time someone clicks on one of those links. Is there some useful info about AA's on the site? Yes. Is there inaccurate info about AA's (and CRNA's) on the site? Yes. There is no attempt to mislead on our part (the same can't be said for the occasional CRNA who floats to that site), but we can't control what is said on a private, commercial website. Much the same as this website - some people take every post as fact - others realize much of what is here is opinion. Is allnurses.com the official website and source of knowledge for all things related to CRNA's? I don't think so.
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The anesthesiaassistant.com website is a commercial website with no affiliatin with AA's or the AAAA. COMMERCIAL is the key word. Every one of those links to manufacturer and employment agency websites generates a commission every time someone clicks on one of those links. Is there some useful info about AA's on the site? Yes. Is there inaccurate info about AA's (and CRNA's) on the site? Yes. There is no attempt to mislead on our part (the same can't be said for the occasional CRNA who floats to that site), but we can't control what is said on a private, commercial website. Much the same as this website - some people take every post as fact - others realize much of what is here is opinion. Is allnurses.com the official website and source of knowledge for all things related to CRNA's? I don't think so.

So there's all these links to the AAAA, the ASA and the Florida Society of Anesthesiologists (FSA) ... which happens to be a strong supporter and sponsor of AA legislation in Florida ... where, btw, the AAAA is based.

But there's no affiliation between those groups and the anesthesiaassistant.com website ...

Uh ... ok.

Funny ... the "official" AAAA website also links to the ASA and FSA websites. But I guess there's no affiliation there either.

:rolleyes:

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Its a forum and not yours to dictate. If you don't like the thread, then why do you keep coming here and posting? Stop whining and stop reading it it truly indeed bothers you that much.

Prospect? I think you were looking for the word perspective..

No problem man. i'lll stop whining and you stop cheerleading. Now we have the perfect existance.

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Oh, I understand that just by sheer numbers alone, CRNAs will always be. However, it is good to put wood on the coals so that the fire keeps burning.

If CRNAs just looked the other way, effectively saying,"I have too much work and not enough help." Politics could indeed see to it that AAs have a much larger share of the marketplace than they do now. No AA could ever compare with a CRNA. There is too much of a difference in the education and experience and practice.

Nurses in general have done this, looked the other way while legislatures have allowed unlicensed, uneducated, unregulated individuals to take on nursing responsibilities. Examples include but are not limited to medical assistants, medication aids ect. (I know they have some reqs but please, they can not compare to the education required for nursing)

OK, OK...I'll bite...I'll beat that damn horse one more time.

The example cited by Kris above is, in my humble opinion, not exactly the same as crna v aa, but there is a some truth in what is being said. Nurses can't be blamed entirely for that because there are other forces that are controlling nursing regulations..."old school nurses", MD's, legislatures, etc. Of course part of that problem is RN's failure to present a united front, be vocal and actively participate. Which I know is the essence of Kris's point and I am restating it, but srna's/crna's can't let the influence slip through out of hands. I plan on supporting my profession whole heartedly...just a pup now. Ok, after blubbering through this...wood on the coals is very nicely put.

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So there's all these links to the AAAA, the ASA and the Florida Society of Anesthesiologists (FSA) ... which happens to be a strong supporter and sponsor of AA legislation in Florida ... where, btw, the AAAA is based.

But there's no affiliation between those groups and the anesthesiaassistant.com website ...

Uh ... ok.

Funny ... the "official" AAAA website also links to the ASA and FSA websites. But I guess there's no affiliation there either.

:rolleyes:

Believe what you want, I could care less.

The AAAA website has no commercial links at all. There are exactly four links - I'm sure you've seen them - all of which relate directly to medical organizations. Last time I looked, the AANA website has links to all of it's affiliated organizations as well. If you look in the bottom left corner of "the other website" and click on "LINKS" you'll come to several pages with almost 500 links to all sorts of websites, the majority of which are not anesthesia related.

I would love to have the anesthesiaassistant.com websites shut down - unfortunately, I have no way of doing that since I don't own it. It does more harm than good, since some of the info is obviously incorrect, and it just fuels the fire for people like you who look for the least little thing they can use to bash AA's.

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We have PA's and NP's, what's the difference between CRNA's and AA's? I'm gonna guess not much.

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I would love to have the anesthesiaassistant.com websites shut down - unfortunately, I have no way of doing that since I don't own it.

Why would you want to shut it down...it is closer to the name of your actual profession than www.anesthetist.org, which is biting off part of another professions hard earned name. It should be www.anesthesiologyassisstants.org.

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