Reserve the 2018 dates to Celebrate National CRNA Week:
January 21-27, 2018!
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.
At its core, anesthesia care is freedom from pain.
Each year, millions of Americans undergo some form of medical treatment requiring anesthesia. In the hands of qualified professionals such as Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs), anesthesia is a safe and effective means of alleviating pain during nearly every type of medical procedure.
Different Models, Same Quality Outcomes
This public education campaign is designed to inform key audiences about the role and value of Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) in delivering anesthesia care in today’s—and tomorrow’s—U.S. healthcare system.
Methods and Models
There are three basic types/methods of anesthesia:
1. General anesthesia produces a loss of sensation throughout the entire body.
2. Regional anesthesia produces a loss of sensation to a specific region of the body.
3. Local anesthesia produces a loss of sensation to a small specific area of the body.
While all anesthesia professionals deliver the same anesthetics, there are several models for who makes up the anesthesia delivery team:
Care-team model – physician anesthesiologists supervising resident physicians in training and directing qualified non-physician anesthesia providers, such as CRNAs, who ultimately administer the anesthetics.
All-MD model – anesthesia care provided by medical doctors only, specifically physician anesthesiologists. Because of the higher staff costs, this model is most prevalent in one- or two-room surgery centers and less common in large ambulatory service centers.
All-CRNA model – anesthesia care delivered by CRNAs independently, without the involvement of an anesthesiologist. In states where supervision is required, CRNAs practicing in this model can be supervised by any licensed physician.
MD+CRNA model – this model functions much like the care team model but with fewer supervision requirements, allowing CRNAs to function according to their full scope of practice.
The Perfect Model, Safe and Cost-Effective:
A landmark study published in 2010 found that a CRNA working as the sole anesthesia provider is the most cost-effective anesthesia delivery model.
In the U.S., CRNAs are the hands-on providers of approximately 43 million anesthetics to patients annually.
Research
Scientific peer-reviewed research that illustrates how CRNAs consistently deliver safe, high-quality, cost-effective anesthesia care in today’s ever-changing healthcare environment:
MEDICAL CARE
NURSING ECONOMIC$
JOURNAL FOR HEALTHCARE QUALITY
HEALTH AFFAIRS
NURSING ECONOMIC$
HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH
NURSING RESEARCH
AANA JOURNAL
Surgical Mortality and Type of Anesthesia Provider, Pine M, Holt KD, Lou YB, (2003), AANA Journal, 71:109-116.
AANA JOURNAL
INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE
AANA JOURNAL
THE COCHRANE LIBRARY
Physician Anaesthetists Versus Non-Physician Providers of Anesthesia for Surgical Patients, Lewis SR, Nicholson A, Smith AF, Alderson P. (2014). Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2014, Issue 7. Art. No.: CD010357. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD010357.pub2.