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    AA Response to MANA Article!!! Archived Message

    Posted by Ferrante on February 28, 2009, 1:22 pm

    Hey guys-
    I got this in my e-mail from info@anesthesiologistassistant.com...I tried to google search it for the real article, but it just came out so it might not be out there yet...At least someone is speaking for us!! Ive just cut-pasted my e-mail of it....if someone ever finds a link, would you please post it! Thanks & Enjoy!


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    Anesthesiologist Assistants Increase Operating Room Safety






    Anesthesiologist Assistants May Increase Operating Room Safety
    Tue Feb 27, 9:45 pm ET
    To: STATE EDITORS
    Contact: AnestaWeb, Inc. , for the US Support for Anesthesiologist Assistants

    Legislation would increase the Standard of Care by Allowing experienced and Educated Anesthesiologist Assistants to Deliver Anesthesia to US Patients

    COOPER CITY, Fl., Feb. 27-- The US Support for Anesthesiologist Assistants -- AnestaWeb, Inc., whose followers are AA-C's, today announced their support for Senate Bill 798 and House Bill 1161. These bills would license experienced anesthesiologist assistants (AAs) to practice in Maryland and would positively alter the anesthesia delivery model currently utilized in the state and focus more on the ACT model of anesthesia care. AAs, who are equally qualified to CRNAs, are certified to practice in 17 states as well as the federal government (Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs) which authorize the use of Anesthesiologist Assistants to practice under the TRICARE insurance program.
    "The passage of this legislation would positively change the ACT model and would be extremely beneficial to the quality of care in operating rooms and create less risk for Maryland patients," said Christopher Green, B.A. R.N., President of AnestaWeb, Inc.. "When patients have unanticipated adverse responses to anesthesia and surgery, I would think Maryland legislators would want the highest skilled master's degree practitioners handling their loved one's cases who are required to work along side of a highly educated Anesthesiologist - that's why we must pass this bill and allow these intelligent, safety conscious Anesthesiologist Assistants to practice in the O.R. immediately."

    Patient Safety
    "Any resistance to this legislation is alarming because although AAs do not need to have a health care related degree, the rigorous AA course is so tough that if some of the CRNA's who are practicing today were to have taken the AA program route they would have failed," said Christopher Green, B.A. R.N., President of AnestaWeb, Inc.. "You really must have an above average intelligence to become and AA and an AA can transition into a doctorate program to become an anesthesiologist much quicker than a CRNA could. That is why CRNA programs like the one rumored at Univ. of Maryland are currently in the process of switching their CRNA program to a doctorate degree and that their tentative start date is fall 2010. This degree would be called a Doctor of Nurse Anesthesia Practice (DNAP). We don't need a Doctor of Nurse Anesthesia we already have Anesthesiologists."

    Comparatively speaking a CRNA must be a registered nurse (never having to take TRUE calculus, Biology 1+2, Chemistry 1+2, Organic Chemistry 1+2, Biochemistry, Physics 1+2, but instead Prerequisites that start with NUR which are geared for an easier fast track into the nursing field) have a four-year nursing degree (which focuses very little on anesthesia) and have at least one year of critical care nursing experience prior to admission to a graduate-level nurse anesthesia educational program (which unfortunately also does not give a nurse much O.R. experience if any at all).

    Over the years, numerous studies have concluded that AA's and CRNA's provide equally safe anesthesia care. Nurse anesthetists have been rendering anesthesia care for more than a century until Anesthesiologists fine tuned their century old basic anesthesia techniques.

    Medicare rules specify that AAs must practice under the medical direction of an anesthesiologist (which is considered the safest practice) and CRNA's do not and an anesthesiologist may run four concurrent operations while directly supervising AAs (which is equally true with CRNA's in large Hospitals). Consequently, the anesthesiologist may not be directly in the room with the AA or CRNA and may be circulating to assist or supervise other surgical suites. When that is the case, patients are left in the care of the well educated and highly trained AA or CRNA with a direct line to their supervising Anesthesiologist.

    Fiscally Responsible
    During these difficult economic times it makes great sense to engage in a new more cost efficient "AA" program rather than expanding the existing University of Maryland nurse anesthesia program. Currently the US is experiencing a nursing shortage and by expanding current nurse anesthesia programs, the already deteriorating pool of nurses entering nurse anesthesia programs would unfortunately cause a worsening nursing shortage. Further, the cost of establishing an AA licensing/regulatory body will be miniscule compared to the worsening nursing shortage. Under this legislation the Board of Medicine would need to take on minimal additional costs to regulate Anesthesiologist Assistants.

    Great Savings To Patients
    Since the services of AAs and CRNAs are reimbursed at the same rates, patients would pay the same amount for equally qualified AAs and no longer have to postpone their surgery due to the lack of anesthesia providers!

    Rural
    CRNAs are the sole anesthesia providers in more than two thirds of all rural hospitals. Common sense should tell anyone that practicing anesthesia without an Anesthesiologist present for emergencies is undoubtedly a very high safety risk factor.
    In conclusion, this legislation and legislation similar to Senate Bill 798 and House Bill 1161 could decrease the shortage of anesthesia providers in rural areas. Because AAs practice safety under the supervision of an Anesthesiologist, the AA's will fill most of the larger hospital O.R positions and CRNA's will most likely move out to more rural areas where they can practice independently without an Anesthesiologist to call upon in an emergency. Anesthesiologist Assistants are truly the answer to the anesthesia workforce shortages.

    SOURCE: AnestaWeb, Inc. - US Support for Anesthesiologist Assistants







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