jubowen

I see that I am not going to get any help from this discussion board. Thank you to "kitty kat" for sharing what your facility does to combat this issue. The rest of you were only territorial and led rough discussions. I am a nurse. I will have my MSN within the next 2 years. One of the forces that drives me to continue my education today is my frustration with nurses. It seems no matter what the education level, we are only out for ourselves as individuals instead of out for the good of the profession. We will always have low salaries, poor work conditions and little hope with the divided state we are in. I am hoping to work in the education system once I have completed my MSN in hopes to educate nurses to stick together and work for a common cause. I calmly step off my soap box now and will try to locate helpful information from other sources. But for the record, Illinois Nurse Practice Act states verbatim "A licensed CRNA may provide anesthesia services pursuant to the order of a licensed physician in a licensed hospital. For anesthesia services, a physician, anesthesiologist, dentist, or podiatrist shall participate through discussion of and agreement with the anesthesia plan and shall remain physically present and be available on the premises during the delivery of anesthesia services for diagnosis, consultation and treatment of emergency medical conditions". This is where my dilemma lies.

Some states require a CRNA be under the supervision of an anesthesiologist or the surgeon. Actually, to be specific, Illinois does not recognize CRNA's as LIP's (our CRNA's want to ignore this fact!) Our hospital is small, we do not have an anesthesilogist so our CRNA's work under the surgeon on the case. I am looking only from advise from those states that have the same nurse practice act. What documentation do you require the CRNA have to prove discussion of anesthesia with a MD. Sorry to cause such commotion! Julie

I currently have my ADN and found a program through Indiana University that is a RN-MSN program. There are 10 clinicals on campus in Indianapolis but otherwise the other coorifices are online. I will complete my program in 3 years. I have spent alot of time researching this program and trying to look for other RN-MSN programs that don't require you have your BSN before you start. IU has had this program for over 5-6 years and everyone seems happy with it that I have talked to. I have taken classes at Excelcior as well. I found that you really need to have the discipline to complete the coorifices. I did not and only completed 2 classes. I have since taken 2 online coorifices through my community college that had an instructor involved with a syllabus and time frame. I did much better in those classes.

If I could continue this.....we have CRNA staff in our small hospital. They are given medical direction by the surgeon providing the surgery. My question is, for those of you in the same situation, how do you document that a discussion of the plan for anesthesia occurred? Thanks