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March 2010
Be Indispensable !
Strategies for New Graduate Success in the ASC
A recent headline from Amednews; the on-line news service of the American Medical Association is foreboding: “Hospital mass layoffs hit new high in 2009”. Unlike my graduating class of 5 in 1987 who all took jobs in large hospitals, our current graduating SRNAs may not have that option. Among the various clinical rotations SRNAs are exposed to, Ambulatory Surgery Centers (ASCs) are unlikely to have been a major concentration, yet for our new graduates these facilities may provide their best option. While the foundation of patient safety and professionalism are at the core of our practice, expertise in the ASC requires it’s own mind and skill set.
Be a Boy Scout
Be Prepared!! Upon graduation I made sure to get assigned to every complex procedure I could find. This gave me confidence and helped me to develop my perception of myself as a professional. I’d certainly advocate that our current SRNAs follow a similar track but you may have to do it in your last months of school! Not only should you find the tough cases but also, if you know your first job is going to be in an ASC, seek out some additional experiences.
How Should AANA Leadership Interact with the Membership ?
There has been much discussion on CRNA listservers such as CRNAnews and Old Gaspassers (OGP) regarding the lack of AANA leadership interacting online with members. How do you feel ? Should we expect more interaction with our leaders, or is voting for them and trusting their judgment adequate, from your perspective ?
Please add your comments or how do we know what YOU want ?
AANA plans to offer an online forum moderated by past AANA presidents. This will be the second year this candidate forum is offered. It may be the only opportunity that any of us have to interact with or get to know the future leaders of AANA. AANA offers the following:
Questions submitted should:
1. Pertain to current or future issues facing CRNA practice.
2. Be focused and unambiguous.
3. Avoid exploration of social, partisan, or personal matters.
4. Be free of bias for any candidate.
Louisiana Anesthesiologists Expect 100% of Anesthesia Fee When Supervising !
In the March 18, 2010 Shreveport Times, Louisiana Association State president, Darlene Hardy, explains the disparity in payment for anesthesia services, where anesthesiologists receive 100% of the anesthesia reimbursement for supervising four cases at once that are performed by CRNAs, leaving the hospital and CRNAs without any payment for actually providing the anesthesia services. Article at Shreveporttimes.com.
Don't Shut Down the Nurse Anesthetists
A bill that will dramatically decrease rural Oklahomans' access to quality health care is moving forward in the state Legislature. Senate Bill 1133, by Rep. John Trebilcock, R-Broken Arrow, and Sen. Clark Jolley, R-Edmond, would remove certified registered nurse anesthetists' ability to help Oklahomans manage chronic pain, something these graduate degree-trained providers have been doing for decades.
The state's 500-plus nurse anesthetists are as well-trained in pain management as general-practice physicians and are equally able to offer Oklahomans with arthritis and debilitating injury a measure of relief. Yet any physician, regardless of training, will be able to provide pain management, while nurse anesthetists will not.
If SB 1133 passes, Oklahoma will become the first state to prohibit nurse anesthetists from practicing chronic pain management.
The bill's supporters have yet to make a public-health case for its passage. Complaints against nurse anesthetists for providing pain management are nonexistent, and even rural doctors acknowledge that they often would be unable to offer pain management without nurse anesthetists.
Oklahoma CRNAs Traditional Scope of Practice Threatened
Oklahoma state legislature - Senate Bill 1133, would remove certified registered nurse anesthetists’ (CRNAs) ability to provide chronic pain services, making Oklahoma the first state to prohibit CRNA's from providing chronic pain management.
Relying on physician referral, CRNAs chronic pain practice was not viewed as the unauthorized practice of medicine, according to a 2008 Oklahoma Attorney General Opinion.
Don Mordecai and Victor Long representing the Oklahoma Association of Nurse Anesthetists, clarified their position in a Guest Opinion on Edmondsun.com, "...Oklahoma’s nurse anesthetists aren’t asking for an expansion of their responsibilities as has been the case with other health care providers in the past. Nurse anesthetists simply seek to provide the care they are trained and qualified to provide and have been providing for decades to the public’s benefit...". See March 3, 2010 Edmondsun.com
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