Each year millions of Americans undergo some form of anesthesia-requiring medical care. Anesthesia is a safe and efficient way of alleviating pain during virtually any form of medical operation in the hands of trained practitioners such as Licensed Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs), Anesthesiologist, and Anesthesia Assistance(AA).
No matter what staff model your hospital choose, your anesthesia provider will deliver the same safe anesthetics as a team.
Patients are not shocked to meet the growing health-care practitioners. Nurses are prescribing their medications, a nurse or assistant is measuring their blood pressure, or a therapist may be assisting with specific care needs. The team’s feedback is important for the physician to make the right decisions about patient care and to carry out the treatment plan. For anesthesia treatment, the same principle holds true.
1Role of the Physician Anesthesiologist.
Physicians anesthesiologists are physicians much like the primary care doctor and surgeon. Physicians are specialized in anesthesia treatment, pain control, and critical care medicine, and have the skills required to understand and treat the entire human body. Anesthesiologist physicians have years of experience including medical school and hours of clinical training. (ASAHQ)
What types of anesthesia do physician anesthesiologists provide?
- General anesthesia: A form of anesthesia is administered by an anesthesia mask, endotracheal tube (ETT), or IV which can cause you to lose consciousness, surgeries such as craniotomy, an appendectomy, etc
- Monitored anesthesia or IV sedation: IV sedation allows you to feel comfortable, which can lead to various levels of consciousness. procedures such as colonoscopy, endoscopy, rectal and vaginal examinations, pacemaker insertions, etc
- Regional anesthesia. Local anesthesia medications administered through an injection or through a narrow tube called a catheter to numb a large portion of the body, such as from the waist downwards.
- Local anesthetic. That is an injection that numbs a small part of the body where it is conducting the operation.
Moreover anesthesiologist practice also involves supervising preoperative assessment clinics and administrative duties in the day-to-day management of the schedule for operating room surgery.
2Role of Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA).
Nurse anesthetists, the first health care providers dedicated to the anesthesia specialty, have their roots in the 1800s when nurses first anesthetized the wounded soldiers on the Civil War battlefields.
CRNA’s are advanced practice nurses who had many years of experience as an ICU nurse and received a graduate to the doctorate level of school in anesthesia. Today CRNA’s provide patients with anesthetics in any setting of practice, and for every form of surgery or procedure. Also providers of anesthesia in almost all rural hospitals, and the main provider of anesthesia to men and women serving in the United States Armed Forces.
What types of anesthesia do CRNA provide?
- General anesthesia: A form of anesthesia is administered by an anesthesia mask, endotracheal tube (ETT), or IV which can cause you to lose consciousness, surgeries such as craniotomy, an appendectomy, etc
- Monitored anesthesia or IV sedation: IV sedation allows you to feel comfortable, which can lead to various levels of consciousness. procedures such as colonoscopy, endoscopy, rectal and vaginal examinations, pacemaker insertions, etc
- Regional anesthesia. Local anesthesia medications administered through an injection or through a narrow tube called a catheter to numb a large portion of the body, such as from the waist downwards.
- Local anesthetic. That is an injection that numbs a small part of the body where it is conducting the operation.
Although all anesthesia practitioners provide the same anesthetics, various models of anesthesia delivery exist:
- Care-team model: Anesthesiologists supervise resident physicians in training and specifically trained providers of non-physician anesthesia, such as CRNA’s, who eventually provide the anesthetics.
- All-MD model: Anesthesia treatment only given by physicians, specifically anesthesiologists. This model is most prevalent in one- or two-room surgery centers, and less popular in large outpatient surgery centers, due to the higher operational costs.
- All-CRNA model: Anesthesia care provided directly by CRNA’s, without the intervention of an anesthesiologist. In states where supervision is necessary, any licensed physician can supervise CRNA’s practicing in this model.
- MD+CRNA model: This model works much like the care team model but with fewer supervisory requirements, allowing CRNA’s to operate within their full scope of practice.
If you are a patient or a member of your family waiting to undergo surgery, we the anesthesia provider regardless of the practice model we have, we are here for your safety and comfort.
Sources:
Role of Physician Anesthesiologist.
https://www.asahq.org/whensecondscount/anesthesia-101/role-of-physician-anesthesiologist/
A primer on the anesthesia care team model.
https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2014/08/primer-anesthesia-care-team-model.html
Become a CRNA
https://www.aana.com/membership/become-a-crna
Different Models, Same Quality Outcomes
http://www.future-of-anesthesia-care-today.com/about-anesthesia-care.php
