georgia_aa

This is complete and total BS. I can categorically state with 100% certainty that no graduate of an accredited AA program has EVER gone back to be trained as a CRNA.

Greg - I have no doubt that you are a good guy and mean what you say. However, you ARE against AAs if you are a dues paying member of the AANA. A percentage of every dollar that you pay to them goes directly towards efforts severely curtail or eliminate AA practice rights. You can't have it both ways. If you disagree with what your national organization is doing then I hope that you are voicing your opposition in some way other than posting it on a nursing forum. Otherwise, you are paying to put your friends out of work.

Well... I read THAT and absolutely laughed MY you know what off. Smearing a profession with no outcome studies to back it up?? Why the audacity of it!!! You guys kill me. How is that any different from what you CRNAs and your beloved AANA are doing to AAs in their smear campaign across the country. Same exact thing.. no studies showing any difference at all, just as you said "slant and spin" highlighting training and experience differences. You guys are such hypocrites.

Actually this document better outlines the recertification process for anesthesiologists. http://www.csahq.org/pdf/bulletin/issue_7/strum044.pdf

AA ongoing certification: http://aa-nccaa.org/certification.htm#Certification Anesthesiologists ongoing certification: http://www.abpsga.org/certification/anesthesiology/recertification.html Now please cite YOUR references to back up your incredibly innaccurate and misleading statement. As JWK stated, CRNAs are the ONLY anesthesia providers not required to take a periodic recertification exam - FACT!

Very simple. We take the jobs in the cities working with the anesthesiologists, thereby freeing you guys up to take the jobs in the underserved rural areas. You don't want to work under MDA supervision anyway ... no problem - we'll do it.

Where did you get the statistic that complications are occuring in 1% of AA cases???? That is an outrageous fabrication. Where is your data to support the notion that the public is at risk?? It is a fact that AAs are as safe as CRNAs. If you read the rest of my post, I said that the brand new AA is a little more closely supervised by the MDA and is doing the more basic cases right at first - no one is at risk and to allege that they are is pure unsubstantiated crapola. They ramp up quickly to being more independant and doing more difficult cases over the first year as they grow more comfortable and experienced. Also, we don't feel like we lack credibility at all. Amongst those that matter, our patients, the ASA, and the CRNAs that we work with our credibility is fine. It's only the CRNAs that don't know us, or don't want to know us that we lack credibility and to be honest with you - that's more your problem than ours.

1. Emory 2. Case Western 3. South University 4. Nova - Ft. Lauderdale 5. Univ of Missouri School of Medicine

Guys.... guys.... please! Don't fight with each other. That's what JWK and I are here for.

Umm.... Okay...not exactly a scathing indictment of the AA profession, but if it really happened I see that as nothing more than you coming across a slack AA student. Maybe she did not know you were discussing Succinylcholine. If she came from the Emory system, she really might not know that drug by it's brand name. Maybe she's one of these people who just blanks out when put on the spot in front of an audience. I have a hard time believing that a soon to graduate student can't recite chapter and verse about Succinylcholine but that is definitely the exception and not the rule. No matter how hard we try, weak under-performers slide into every program under the radar from time to time - CRNA programs included. I mean, do you really want to get me started on all of the SRNAs (or CRNAs for that matter) that I've encountered over the years that didn't know basic stuff? How about elaborating on your perception of how the real staff AAs seemed to perform clinically instead of recounting some lame story about a student who flamed out during a Q&A. C'mon and enlighten all of your CRNA brethren on how the AAs were led around by ropes by their supervising physicians and did little more than put on the tegaderm after the MDA started the IV. You have so much first hand knowledge... let's hear it.

Hey, it looks like he's getting ready to say something. Shhhhh everybody, let's hear what he has to say........ Ahh forget it. Same crap he said in the other thread. Again, Deepz , you add nothing of substance to the discussion. You really are quite talented at putting people to sleep as you have always said you are. By the way, I do lines everyday. I don't do blocks but many, many AAs do everyday. You know nothing about me, but profess to know everything. And no, quoting an Aesop fable does not make you seem more intelligent. Go back to sleep Deepz and bury your head in the sand and go on believing that AAs will never be what you are (thank God!!!).

Forgive me , but when did I ever say or even imply that I was the superior provider????

Cool Mike. New AA grads are brought along slowly in the ACT environment. Easy cases to start, lots of direct supervision. Over time, they become more independant and gravitate to the bigger more complex cases. Just like the mentoring that you got as a greenhorn.

No, I am an AA who can do everything that a CRNA does (except bill for my services) and I was trained in 2 years. And I, unlike you have more insight into your profession than you have in mine since I have always, my whole carreer worked with CRNAs and I'm willing to bet that you have never even met an AA much less seen one working in the OR.

You get no argument from me on this. I have stated numerous times that the CRNA right out of school probably has an advantage over the new AA grad. But after 5 years you would not be able to tell them apart. I'll take it one step further and say that if that new CRNA grad goes to a small outpatient center and does knee scopes all day and the AA grad goes to a major center and does cardiac and major vascular cases all day, that the AA will be superior in terms of skills, knowledge, and ability after those same 5 years. Please understand that I am not making these statements out of sheer supposition like many of you on this board. I have worked with CRNAs for years and years. When we hire a CRNA who has worked in surgi-centers or other low-acuity settings, they are quite overwhelmed when they get here believe me. Some of them will gravitate to the outpatient surgery center and stay there while others will eventually get to where they are comfortable doing the bigger cases. We currently have 8 CRNAs in our group right now and not a single one of them does cardiac. Not because we won't let them - they simply don't want to do it.