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September 2010
Should All Physicians be allowed to provide anesthesia ?
Not according to "The Great Z's Anesthesiologist's Blog"
"...We anesthesiologists have years of experience giving anesthetics and monitoring for its potential deadly effects. The specialists make procedures like colonoscopies, cardiac caths, and abortions look effortless. But that doesn't mean other doctors who aren't similarly trained should perform them. So why do other doctors insist they can give anesthesia when they have no idea how it is supposed to be done properly?...".
Next Question: Why then do anesthesiologists insist that these same "doctors" must supervise Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs), when CRNAs have years of post graduate anesthesia training, often at the hands of anesthesiologists and along side anesthesiology residents ?
ASA Fights the A-Bomb
Click above for full Law Med Blog.
THE GREAT NURSE ANESTHETIST “OPT OUT” DEBATE
"...Anesthesiologists of course tend to favor the supervision requirement because they have a financial interest in the same and can also claim the mantel of patient safety, because of their more substantial professional education and experience.
If you ask an anesthesiologists what differentiates his or her service from that of a CRNA, the answer that you are likely to get is that “I am a physician.” That is of course empirically true. There are occasions when having a physician capable of making medical decisions available to assist the surgeon in an emergency is a net plus. The problem is that in the overwhelming number of cases having both a “belt and suspenders” is an expensive luxury.
The delivery of anesthesia is a technical service. Over time the technical expertise in delivering the service is about the same as between physicians and nurses and frankly in some cases nurses do it better, particularly in the delivery of epidurals during delivery.
