Posted by Dave S on February 13, 2007, 11:54 pm, in reply to "Re: R.N. to A.A."
dd....your memory is 100% correct. I've worked with several GYNers, internal medicine docs, etc. over the years that came out of medical schools and started anesthesia residencies. They became aware of the financial disparity between the anesthesia docs that owned the groups and what they'd get (just like CRNAs found out.....and AAs will ultimately acknowledge) and bailed on their residencies while they were still young enough to easily make such a switch.
You know, I'm old enough to have talked with some of the anesthesia provides that were in their prime in the '60s and '70s.....and you know what....there were almost NO doas back then...why??? because there was no money in it before Medicare was invented!!! Once Medicare showed up, the docs started realizing they could hire CRNAs do this nursing job and away went the industry of anesthesia. So, y'all don't need to be talkin' that CRNAs and the AANA are only about money.
if any of you folks are really interested in the truth about anesthesia in this country, there is an excellent, excellent book authored by one of the true founders of anesthesia in America, Ira Gunn, CRNA....don't recall the name of it any more, but then Major Gunn was a feisty old broad when she was youngen and she nailed some doa's hides to wall in her book. Ira is still alive and living in south Texas....in poor health but still has a mind as sharp as ever. She's a real treasure of the anesthesia world.