Nurse Anesthetists in Pa. Ensure Patient Safety, Help to Control Rising Health-care Costs

Pennsylvania Association of Nurse Anesthetists

CONTACT: Kurt Knaus; P: 717-724-2866; E: kurt@ceislermedia.com

Nurse Anesthetists in Pa. Ensure Patient Safety,

Help to Control Rising Health-care Costs

HARRISBURG (Jan. 20, 2020) --- Pennsylvania ranks among the top draws nationally for certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs) and students, with 13 highly rated nurse anesthetist programs serving every corner of the commonwealth and helping to sustain one of the largest contingencies of professionals in the country.

This week marks CRNA Week in Pennsylvania, when patients, hospital administrators, health-care professionals, policy-makers, and others learn more about CRNAs and the work they do to keep patients safe and help reduce the cost of health care. The week-long celebration runs in conjunction with the 21st annual National CRNA Week from Jan. 19 to Jan. 25.

“Surgery and anesthesia can be intimidating,” said Angelarosa G. DiDonato, DNP, CRNA, president of the Pennsylvania Association of Nurse Anesthetists (PANA). “That’s why it’s so important for people to understand the vital role CRNAs play as a patient advocate. We stay with our patients for every heartbeat and every breath, administering their anesthetics and watching over their vital signs. We never leave their side.”

Pennsylvania is recognized as a leader in anesthesia education and training, with 13 programs spread throughout Allegheny, Columbia, Erie, Lackawanna, Lehigh, Montgomery, Philadelphia, Westmoreland and York counties. (For a full list of programs, visit www.PANAforQualityCare.com and click “Resources.”)

CRNAs are the hands-on providers of anesthesia care, operating safely in every setting where anesthesia is administered, including hospital operating and delivery rooms; ambulatory surgical centers; the offices of dentists, podiatrists, ophthalmologists, and plastic surgeons; pain management centers and more.

The nation’s 54,000 CRNAs and student registered nurse anesthetists safely and cost-effectively provide more than 49 million anesthetics each year. PANA itself represents more than 3,700 CRNAs and students across the state --- one of the largest contingencies in the country.

The role CRNAs play in Pennsylvania’s and the nation’s health-care system is expansive.

CRNAs are the main providers of anesthesia care in rural communities and medically underserved areas, delivering essential health care and preventing gaps in services. CRNAs also are battle-tested, serving on the front lines since World War I as the main providers of anesthesia care to U.S. military personnel in austere combat theaters.

With advanced degrees and a high level of education and clinical experience, CRNAs are able to deliver the same safe, high-quality anesthesia care as other anesthesia professionals but at a lower cost, helping to control the nation’s rising health-care costs.

Because of their training and experience, numerous medical studies show there is no statistical difference in patient outcomes when a nurse anesthetist provides treatment. In fact, these studies by nationally recognized health-care policy and research organizations prove that CRNAs provide high-quality care, even for rare and difficult procedures.

That’s because CRNAs are with the patient throughout the entire procedure. Anesthesiologists, on the other hand, may have several cases to attend to simultaneously, or they may be somewhere else handling another response.

CRNAs provide routine anesthesia care but also quickly respond to patient changes and emergencies during surgical and medical procedures, ensuring patient health and safety.

For more information about certified registered nurse anesthetists in Pennsylvania, visit www.PANAforQualityCare.com or follow along on social media via Twitter at @PANACRNA or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/PANACRNA.

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Proud to be from Pittsburgh: UPMC nurse anesthetist overcoming obstacles to help others

WPXI-TV 11 Pittsburgh: Updated: Aug 2, 2019 - 6:43 PM

Ever since Brett Fadgen helped take care of his grandfather as a young boy, he knew he wanted to help more people. Brett joined the Ross/West View EMS team as a teen and then kept climbing up the health care ladder, all while dealing with an extra challenge.

"I do have a disability, but I'm not disabled," said Fadgen. "I need to learn in my own different ways to complete tasks."

Brett was born with a congenital defect. His right arm ends just after his elbow. But the defect never slowed him down.

"As far as I know, I am the only person in the world that provides anesthesia at this level with a disability identical to mine," he said.

He's part of a team of 12 at UPMC that travels between hospitals helping with anesthesia. It's a position he fought for with hard work, determination and a bit of ingenuity.

"I had to adapt my prosthetic devices to make it efficient and safe for the patient," said Brett.

He created adaptive pieces that work for different tasks during his job. He said he continues to look for ways to do his job better every day and is just starting to realize that his trailblazing path could inspire future health care careers.

"I treat my arm like anyone else. I'm no different," Fadgen said. "More recently, I realized I might be able to help people, by telling my story of my accomplishments as well as my challenges."

Pa. CRNA among Prestigious Fellows at Penn

Ji Su (Jenny) Kim graduated May 20 from the University of Pennsylvania’s Doctorate of Nursing Practice Program after serving her final year as a fellow of the prestigious Barry & Marie Lipman Family Prize. Only 16 students receive a fellowship each year.

The prize celebrates leadership and innovation in the social sector with an emphasis on impact and transferability of practices, and in finding ways to resource and connect change-makers to bring innovative ideas to new places and solve problems around the world.

Kim came to the United States from South Korea when she was just a kid. After high school in Georgia, she went to Penn and received a bachelor’s degree in nursing. Soon after, she left for California to serve as a Level 1 trauma center pediatric intensive care unit (ICU) nurse.

Kim came back to Penn in 2016 to finish her doctorate and, for now, plans on sticking around. She will work as a certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA) at a large academic hospital in Philadelphia after graduation.

With so much health education, medical training and real-world clinical experience, it only made sense that as a fellow Kim would study … economic development?

“I chose that discipline because it was the one I knew about the least and I wanted to learn more about it,” Kim says. The other fields were health, social justice and education. The 16 fellows are divided into four groups of four to study each discipline.

Students interested in the fellowship submit an application with short-answer essays and must complete an in-person interview. Kim’s fellowship ran from August 2018 through graduation.

Her team’s work involved looking deeply into nonprofit organizations --- financial statements, tax filings, board structures, etc. --- and determining what impact they have on a community and the potential for transformative experiences by those who seek or utilize the services.

More than 100 nonprofits apply for the review and chance to win. Kim’s team collectively narrowed the field to 40 organizations, and then to 12. The students present the slimmed down selection to the prize committee. Kim presented on a homeless organization that provides mobile hygiene services. It began in San Francisco but has since expanded to other cities.

“We had personal leadership coaches counsel us through our leadership goals for the year as well as a public speaking coach to give us feedback on our presentation styles and delivery,” Kim said. “These two things were invaluable in fostering confidence, ownership, and realization of being the subject matter expert.”

After all the presentations, the prize committee, which includes faculty and the Lipmans, picks three winners. The overall winner receives $250,000 but all three get access to Penn staff and faculty to share information and best practices to advance their cause.

That her fellowship discipline had nothing to do with anesthesiology made no difference. The minds around her influenced her and inspired her, and the whole experience will help her as a CRNA.

“It really opened my eyes to where we fit into this larger system,” she said. “The rest of the world really doesn’t operate in silos. In the real world, everyone really kind of works together. This experience showed me how to work collaboratively. We all need each other and we need to use each other’s strengths to elevate the whole.”

Kim may be staying in Philadelphia for now, but don’t expect her to stay put for long.

Her father passed when she was in high school, so she watched her mom raise three children. Her family benefited from a community that supported them, which is why she is committed to finding a way to give back for all that she received.

Her ultimate goal is to go on medical mission trips --- short term at first to gain experience, and then longer term to help as many and as much as she can. That is also among the reasons she became a CRNA. You can go anywhere in the world where there is surgery or pain and suffering, and you can be a part of relieving it, she said.

“If I do my job right, you’ll never know I was here,” Kim says in a video about the fellowship. “It’s such a great privilege to be able to have that hand print in someone’s life without needing the glory that comes with it afterwards. And really, it’s the invisible hands in the world that really are the drivers and the movers part of us making us wholly connected at the same time.”