Newswise — PARK RIDGE, Illinois— Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) are the difference makers when it comes to ensuring that patients make it safely and comfortably through surgery, child-bearing, and other procedures without pain or recollection of the events that have occurred. During National CRNA Week, Jan. 24-30, 2016, CRNAs and their patients will celebrate this year’s theme, “CRNAs: Making A Difference One Patient at a Time,” by educating the public about the value of nurse anesthesia and the critical role CRNAs play in today’s, and tomorrow’s, healthcare system. “Every day, every case, and every patient is different,” said Juan Quintana, DNP, MHS, CRNA, president of the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA). “The presence of CRNAs in hospitals, surgery centers, physicians’ offices, pain clinics, and our nation’s military service branches ensures that vulnerable patient populations have access to anesthesia required for surgery, labor and delivery, emergency care and chronic pain management.” Despite attempts by competitors to needlessly impose barriers on their scope of practice, CRNAs and other advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) are stepping up to the plate to address the needs of America’s rural and poor urban communities. A recent study titled, “Geographical Imbalance of Anesthesia Providers and its Impact on the Uninsured and Vulnerable Populations,” published in the October 2015 journal of Nursing Economic$ http://www.aana.com/resources2/research/Pages/NursingEconomics2015.aspx found that CRNAs, who are already the primary providers of anesthesia services in rural America, are providing the majority of anesthesia care in U.S. counties with lower-income populations and populations that are more likely to be uninsured or unemployed.
“Our top priority has and always will be our patients’ safety, and in order to best meet the needs of the millions of newly insured patients entering the healthcare system thanks to the Affordable Care Act, we must remove unnecessary barriers to practice and allow CRNAs to practice to the full scope of their education and training,” said Quintana. CRNAs administer anesthesia in traditional hospital surgical suites and obstetrical delivery rooms; critical access hospitals; ambulatory surgical centers; the offices of dentists, podiatrists, ophthalmologists, plastic surgeons, and pain management specialists; and U.S. military, public health services, and Department of Veterans Affairs healthcare facilities. CRNAs also provide anesthesia in collaboration with surgeons, anesthesiologists, dentists, and podiatrists for all types of procedures. About the American Association of Nurse AnesthetistsFounded in 1931 and located in Park Ridge, Ill., the AANA is the professional organization for more than 49,000 nurse anesthetists across the United States. As anesthesia specialists, Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) safely provide approximately 40 million anesthetics to patients each year for surgical, obstetrical, pain management, and trauma stabilization services. CRNAs deliver essential healthcare in thousands of communities and are able to prevent gaps in access to anesthesia services, especially in rural, inner-city, and other medically underserved areas of the country. They are highly valued in today’s healthcare environment because they deliver the same safe, high-quality anesthesia care as other anesthesia professionals but at a lower cost, helping to control rising healthcare costs. Additional information about the AANA and CRNAs is available at www.aana.com and www.aana.com/future-today.
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