HARRISBURG, Pa., Jan. 20, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs) are usually the last person a patient sees before a surgical procedure begins, and the first person they awake to when it ends. As the hands-on providers of anesthesia, CRNAs are with their patients throughout the entire medical procedure.
Jan. 19-25 marks "National CRNA Week," celebrating the nearly 74,000 nurse anesthetists and residents in nurse anesthesiology programs across the country. CRNAs play a critical role in addressing rising health-care costs, protecting patient health, and ensuring access to quality care.
"As members of one of America's most trusted health-care professions, CRNAs have served on the front lines of patient care for more than 150 years, and we continue to answer the call to keep our patients healthy and safe," said Debra Minzola, Ph.D., CRNA, president of the Pennsylvania Association of Nurse Anesthetists (PANA), which represents approximately 4,000 CRNAs and students statewide.
CRNAs operate 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.
From collaborating on transformative health-care policy wins that advance patient care to saving lives by safely administering more than 58 million anesthetics when and where patients need it most each year, the unique expertise of CRNAs helps to ensure communities stay healthy and safe.
With a history that spans to the Civil War, CRNAs have been the main providers of anesthesia care to U.S. military personnel since World War I and remain the primary anesthesia providers in austere combat theaters. CRNAs also remain the primary providers of anesthesia care in rural America and medically underserved areas
Education and training are rigorous. Pennsylvania is among the top draws nationally for CRNA students, with 15 highly rated nurse anesthetist programs spread across the commonwealth. The average nurse anesthetist completes 9,000 clinical hours prior to becoming a CRNA. Because of this experience, numerous medical studies show there is no statistical difference in patient outcomes when a nurse anesthetist provides treatment, even for rare and difficult procedures.
PANA remains active in Pennsylvania to grow and strengthen the profession. Among its priorities: a scope of practice bill that would allow CRNAs to practice to the fullest extent of their education and training, and legislation that would classify nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, and CRNAs as "advanced practice registered nurses," or APRNs. Both measures received broad bipartisan support last session, with plans for reintroduction in the 2025-26 legislative session.
The association also is guarding against measures that would allow a new category of unlicensed anesthesia providers to practice in Pennsylvania. The proposed use of anesthesiologist assistants (AAs) is unproven in terms of anesthesia care and creates major liability issues for hospitals and other practitioners. And, because AAs cannot practice apart from anesthesiologists who supervise them, it is the most expensive anesthesia care delivery models.
The Department of Health currently is reviewing the potential implementation of an AA model through delegatory authority rather than statute.
"We will always be there for our patients during their most vulnerable moments," Minzola said. "And we will do all we can to ensure access to safe, effective, efficient, affordable, compassionate care."
