'PA anesthetist'?

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My patient's daughter the other day said "my daughter's an anesthetist." So I say, "oh, a nurse anesthetist?" and she replies, "no, a PA anesthetist." I'm pretty sure there's no such thing and this woman just had the title a little confused, but she insisted her daughter was a "PAA". She said her daughter went to Emory so I'm assuming she's an AA, and maybe was a PA-C before going to AA school? I just thought the whole thing was curious, as this woman seemed insistent that PA anesthetist was her daughter's title. She then said "the CRNAs hated the AAs in her practice", not knowing of course that I am about to start NA school. I just replied that I think a lot of the disagreements among the different types of anesthesia providers are probably blown out of proportion. I am not trying to start any fights here; I was just curious if anyone else had heard this term.

You, as a PA, 'do' transplants..........?

"I do liver transplant"

No I work in liver transplant not I do liver transplants.

David Carpenter, PA-C

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Specializes in ECMO.
Q -- how many CRNAs still work at the UNM Hospital in ABQ after faculty hard-core A$A types brought in AAs?

A -- They left.

found the answer: 10 CRNAs

http://hsc.unm.edu/anesthesiology/crnas.shtml

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I am a CRNA. I don't have anything against a PA that has had special training to administer anesthesia. PA's have a medical background and the majority have masters degrees. I spoke with a PA that is interested in anesthesia and he told me that he would have to complete a specialization in anesthesia in order to practice. He has a masters degree and extensive experience in the OR and in clinical practice. On the other hand, I do have a problem with AA's. An AA does not have a clinical medical background. You can have a degree in history and as long as you have completed the prerequisites for the program and graduate, you can give anesthesia. An RN, has had clinical experience in school and with the pre-requisite ICU experience. Another sore spot for CRNA's is that if an AA is an Anesthesiologist's assistant, then their training should be done by an anesthesiologist and not a CRNA. There is a big difference between a PA practicing anesthesia and an AA.

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Specializes in Emergency NP.

To David:

I heard that GA licensure changed a tad for PAs. The options now given are primary care, anesthesia, and critical care.

I did a quick search to be sure:

http://www.emorypa.org/Rules%20for%20PA%20Practice%20in%20Ge.pdf

It's all semantics anyways! Just thought I'd throw in my 2 cents.

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To David:

I heard that GA licensure changed a tad for PAs. The options now given are primary care, anesthesia, and critical care.

I did a quick search to be sure:

http://www.emorypa.org/Rules%20for%20PA%20Practice%20in%20Ge.pdf

It's all semantics anyways! Just thought I'd throw in my 2 cents.

Thats the way that its written but its never been implemented. The forms available are for primary care (PAs) and anesthesia (AAs). The problem is that they tried to define medicine by primary and critical care when what they probably meant was primary and specialty care. For example if I do dermatology obviously I'm not part of primary care but equally obviously I'm not in critical care. Hence the lack of forms.

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Specializes in ICU, SICU, Burns, ED, Cath lab, and EMS.

It more than semantics: AMA trained anesthesiologists assistant requires the oversight of an MDA. Whereas, a CRNA doesnt require the supervision of an anesthesiologist. AA and PA-anesthesia are just ways the AMA can take jobs from CRNAs. For what its worth.

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

This thread is from 2007 a lot has changed.

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