It's National CRNA Week
Throughout the year we celebrate the varied health care professionals and this week is no exception.
When is National CRNA Week? January 22-28, 2017
What Is National CRNA Week? Per the AANA (the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists) "It is the AANA's annual celebration of anesthesia patient safety and the nation's 50,000+ Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists and student registered nurse anesthetists who safely and cost-effectively provide approximately 43 million anesthetics each year. Known as National Nurse Anesthetists Week as recently as 2014, the new name for this popular event helps patients, hospital administrators, healthcare professionals, policymakers, and others become more familiar with the CRNA credential and the exceptional advanced practice registered nurses who have earned it."
Four of the 50,000 currently practice right here at Memorial Hospital of Converse County: Loren Thiel, Chuck Woodruff, Troy Votruba, Shawna Kohler have each served our community and our hospital by continually putting patient safety first. Thank you all for your continued dedication!
A Little More About What Being A CRNA Means:
History: Nurse anesthetists have been providing anesthesia care to patients in the United States for more than 150 years. The CRNA (Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist) credential came into existence in 1956.
Prolific Providers: CRNAs are anesthesia professionals who safely administer approximately 43 million anesthetics to patients each year in the United States, according to the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) 2016 Practice Profile Survey.
Rural America: CRNAs are the primary providers of anesthesia care in rural America, enabling healthcare facilities in these medically underserved areas to offer obstetrical, surgical, pain management and trauma stabilization services. In some states, CRNAs are the sole providers in nearly 100 percent of the rural hospitals.
Anesthesia Safety: According to a 1999 report from the Institute of Medicine, anesthesia care is nearly 50 times safer than it was in the early 1980s. Numerous outcomes studies have demonstrated that there is no difference in the quality of care provided by CRNAs and their physician counterparts.
Practice of Nursing: CRNAs provide anesthesia in collaboration with surgeons, anesthesiologists, dentists, podiatrists, and other qualified healthcare professionals. When anesthesia is administered by a nurse anesthetist, it is recognized as the practice of nursing; when administered by an anesthesiologist, it is recognized as the practice of medicine. Regardless of whether their educational background is in nursing or medicine, all anesthesia professionals give anesthesia the same way.
Autonomy and Responsibility: As advanced practice registered nurses, CRNAs practice with a high degree of autonomy and professional respect. They carry a heavy load of responsibility and are compensated accordingly.
Practice Settings: CRNAs practice in every setting in which anesthesia is delivered: traditional hospital surgical suites and obstetrical delivery rooms; critical access hospitals; ambulatory surgical centers; the offices of dentists, podiatrists, ophthalmologists, plastic surgeons, and pain management specialists; and U.S. military, Public Health Services, and Department of Veterans Affairs healthcare facilities.
Military Presence: Nurse anesthetists have been the main providers of anesthesia care to U.S. military personnel on the front lines since WWI. Nurses first provided anesthesia to wounded soldiers during the Civil War.