Secretary of the VAs response to Congress about CRNAs and proposed changes

Scooby-Dooby-Doo · Dec 29, 2013

Nice! The VA CRNA in my state whom I spoke with told me they get treated like MD residents. This proposal is good to hear, thanks for sharing!

allnurses Guide · Dec 29, 2013

Nice! The VA CRNA in my state whom I spoke with told me they get treated like MD residents. This proposal is good to hear, thanks for sharing!

We don't even have an anesthesiologist at our local VA anymore.

Scooby-Dooby-Doo · Dec 29, 2013

Oh wow! The opposite is at our local VA. There's only one CRNA and the rest of the anesthesia cases are done by the MD staff and residents. I was told by the CRNA though that if the Society of Anesthesiologists had their way, the CRNAs wouldn't even exist. It's also possible too for the local VA to not have a big CRNA staff is that they are in partnership with a local big name medical school, wherein all MDs in the hospital are affiliated from that medical school.

But in any case, if this proposal follows through, it would be quite interesting to see what would happen in that VA.

allnurses Guide · Dec 30, 2013

Oh wow! The opposite is at our local VA. There's only one CRNA and the rest of the anesthesia cases are done by the MD staff and residents. I was told by the CRNA though that if the Society of Anesthesiologists had their way, the CRNAs wouldn't even exist. It's also possible too for the local VA to not have a big CRNA staff is that they are in partnership with a local big name medical school, wherein all MDs in the hospital are affiliated from that medical school.
But in any case, if this proposal follows through, it would be quite interesting to see what would happen in that VA.

I don't think the ASA wants to do away with CRNAs, but I do think they want to completely control CRNA practice the way the do with AAs.

The VA is trying to have some consistency by developing this policy. Each VA facility as it stands now dictates what the anesthesia department staffing is going to be, and this is not efficient approach for such a large healthcare system.