Newswise — PARK RIDGE, ILLINOIS – Of more than three million licensed practicing nurses in the United States, Michael D. Fallacaro, CRNA, DNS, FAAN, has been chosen as one of the select 163 nurses to be named a 2015 fellow of the American Academy of Nursing (AAN), joining more than 2,300 nursing leaders who make up the academy.
The American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) congratulates Fallacaro on his induction, which took place during the academy’s annual meeting on October 17, 2015, in Washington, D.C.
New fellows are eligible to use the FAAN credential (Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing) after the induction ceremony. The AAN’s mission is to track national and international trends in healthcare, and create and execute policy-related initiatives to help reform America’s healthcare system. Selection criteria to be inducted include evidence of significant contributions to nursing and healthcare and sponsorship by two AAN fellows.
“I can attest to Dr. Fallacaro’s effectiveness as a national leader,” said AANA Past President Christine Zambricki, CRNA, DNAP, MS, FAAN, in her nomination letter to AAN. “Under his leadership, the AANA Foundation grew its endowment to the largest level in its history – providing scholarships, fellowships and research grants – into its full mandate.”
“Dr. Fallacaro’s patient safety expertise is evidenced in the two simulation centers he developed, seven peer-reviewed studies and scores of national presentations,” said Maura McAuliffe, CRNA, PhD, FAAN, professor and director of East Carolina University’s College of Nursing, in her nomination letter to AAN. “Dr. Fallacaro’s educational outreach to rural Appalachia resulted in a pipeline preparing nurse anesthetists for medically underserved areas and increasing access for those in desperate need of anesthesia and pain management services.”
"This honor rightly belongs to my family, mentors, colleagues and graduate students, past and present, who have provided me with opportunities to engage in a meaningful craft making patient safety real," said Fallacaro about his induction.
Fallacaro’s life and professional experience as a nurse both began in Buffalo, N.Y., where he also attended D’Youville College. He graduated with distinction from George Washington University’s nurse anesthesia educational program in Washington, D.C. His masters and doctorate work were at the State University of New York at Buffalo.
He ascended the ranks at various hospitals in the Buffalo area. In 1984 Fallacaro joined the nursing school faculty at the State University of New York at Buffalo and went on to serve as co-director of the nurse anesthesia educational program.Throughout his career, Fallacaro has been active in the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists. Among noted accomplishments, he has served as president of the New York State Association of Nurse Anesthetists, two-time chair of the AANA Education Committee, chair of the AANA Foundation, and chair of the Perioperative Patient Safety Task Force where he led his group to develop national safety guidelines preventing anesthesia provider fatigue.
Then began his love affair with Virginia, where in 1998 he joined the faculty in the School of Allied Health Professions at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond. He is now a tenured full professor and chair of the department of nurse anesthesia. In this role he established the nation’s first “Doctor of Nurse Anesthesia Practice” degree offering, developed anesthesia outreach training to rural America and most recently established cultural exchanges between VCU and university partners in the People’s Republic of China. Fallacaro was named a Herbert T. Watson Endowed Professor in 2013.
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.
RSS