Anesthesiology And Nursing Essay, Research Paper

Who would have thought that a small carbon based organic compound such as ether

would spawn a new field of medical specializations, changing the history of

medicine for ever. Ether was discovered in 1275 by a Spanish chemist named

Raymundus Lullius,(Evans,1995,p 1). It was his discovery that allowed William E.

Clark to use ether as an anesthetic for the first time in 1842. He administered

the ether on a dental patient for Elijah Pope as he performed a dental

extraction on Miss Hobbie,(Evans,1995.p 1). This was the first step in the

creation of the field of anesthesia. This new technology was quickly put to use

to relieve pain in all areas of medicine, and its use was seen in hospital

operating rooms, dentists’ offices and battle fields. This new practice in

medicine was primarily taken on by the physicians of that time. This new method

added to a doctors routine of operating on patients, this proved to be to taxing

on the doctor as well as their patients. The added burden of administering the

anesthetics along with doing the operation and resuscitation of the patient

safely was too much for the doctors. This fact was proven by the increase in

mortality rates of patients put under by doctors who administered their own

anesthetic. The increasing mortality rates forced the medical proffesion to

demanded a change in how anesthesia was given. It was thought that the person

administering the anesthetic should do that and only that during an operation.

This would free up the physicians so that they could concentrate on the

operation at hand. The remaining question was, who do we get to administer the

anesthesia? This person would have already be trained in some aspect of the

medical field and demonstrate good critical thought and good cognitive

reasoning. The doctors only needed to look up from the operating table and to

their assistants in health care CRNA 3 to get their answer, it was the nurse.

From that moment on the first specialization in clinical nursing was born and

those in that specialty were named nurse anesthetists,(Thatcher,1952,p11). The

earliest documentation of anesthetic care given to a patient by a nurse was the

work done by Sister Mary Bernard in 1887. She was a catholic nun who worked at

the St. Vincent hospital in Erie Pennsylvania,(Thatcher,1952,p 12). The nurse

anesthetists of that time were trained by physicians at first, but as time went

on the nurses took a more active role in the study and research of anesthetics

and eventually surpassed their teachers in the field of anesthesiology. This

advance led to role reversal, where the teacher became the student and the

student became the teacher. By 1909 the first formal educational program

designed for nurse anesthetists was started at St. Vincents Hospital in Portland

Oregon,(Evans,1995,p 3). Upon graduation from the school, the nurse anesthetists

were placed in all sorts of settings. Most impressive were the teaching

positions held by nurses in the medical schools of that time. They became the

primary instructors of anesthetic to medical students. The nurse anesthetist

also held positions in the battlefields. During World War One, the American

nurse anesthetist was the primary health giver to troops in the European

theaters of combat. While at war the American nurses influenced other foreign

nurses and that led to the spread of nurse anesthetists throughout the world.

With the wars came a sharp increase in the demand of anesthetists, and this in

turn increased the number of institutions needed for training and broadened the

criteria for educating the nurses. By the end of war it was evident that the

nurse anesthetist was an invaluable profession that had established itself as

one of the most important of all in medicine. With all of this growth and

evolution it became necessary that the profession of nurse anesthetists needed

to have some structure and governance. On June 17, 1931 the American Association

of Nurse Anesthetists CRNA 4 (AANA), wasformed and held its first meeting. From

that point on the nurse anesthetist had a new name, they were also known as

Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist, (CRNA). Up until World War Two,

anesthesia was considered a nursing specialty. This fact was credited in 1942

when the ratio of CRNA’s to anesthesiologists(M.D.) was seventeen to one. Those

statistics stayed relatively the same until the sixties,(Evans,1995,p 3). The

construction of criteria and guidelines for CRNA programs has been the

responsibility of the AANA and government organizations. Together they also

created the criteria that was necessary for schools to follow to keep their

accreditation and licensure of practicing anesthetists,(AANA,1998,p 3). The CRNA

of today is not much different than their counterparts that practiced in the

late eightteen hundreds and early nineteen hundreds. One noticeable difference

between the CRNA’s of today and those of yesteryear is the constantly changing

technologies and new developments in the drugs available to them. Along with new

advances came the need for additional schooling and training. The new demands

put on training institutions assured that only the best and most qualified

nurses be accepted into the CRNA programs. The schooling required by nurses in

this field is a rigorous and challenging set of didactic and clinical classes

that can last twenty four to thirty six months with little or no breaks. The

criteria for entrance into most accredited schools is strict. Most require a GPA

of 3.00 to 3.50,(UNE,1996,p6), previous experience in an ICU ward and a

bachelors of science in nursing. The degrees that can be earned in anesthesia

are CRNA, Ed in anesthesiology or a doctorate degree, (Evans,1995,p3). Due to

the current trends in health care and demands for highly qualified CRNA’s in the

work place, all accredited school must offer a masters of CRNA program as a

mandatory degree by CRNA 5 the end of1998,(Evans,1995,p4). To this date there

are some twenty seven thousand CRNA’s in practice in the United States alone and

that number is constantly growing,(AANA,1998,p 1). Timothy Gale is one out of

the twenty seven thousand CRNA’s in the U.S. and is presently employed at the

Aroostook Medical Center. He received his CRNA degree in 1992 from the Eastern

Maine Medical Center. He loves his profession and the esteem that comes with it.

He is among the CRNA’s that administered 65% of the 26 million anesthetics given

to patients last year,(AANA,1998,p 1). These anesthetics were given in a wide

array of settings that range from dentists offices to hospital operating rooms

to training facilities. Tim also described his work in a hospital environment as

very rewarding and challenging. The autonomy given to CRNA’s is an important

part of the job to him. Not all CRNA’s are granted the same levels of autonomy

as others. It all depends on previous performance and competency, luckily Tim is

competent enough to be left alone in his job. Looking at CRNA’s from an

economical aspect, they make perfect fedutiary sense. When comparing the

salaries of CRNA’s to MD’s that give anesthetics the difference is quit

staggering. A CRNA makes about 70-100 thousand dollars a year compared to the

250+ thousand dollars a year that the MD makes,(ANA,1997,p3). The Health Care

Financing Administration launched a study of the job performances and pay scales

of CRNA’s and MD’s. They discovered that the quality of care between the two was

the same(AANA/NOTICES,1998,p1). This led the HCFA to work with the U.S. Congress

to help change the rules allowing CRNA’s absolute freedom from physician

supervision while administering anesthetics. The U.S. Congress has even sat up

and CRNA 6 taken note of the value of qualified CRNA’s and, they unanimously

support more autonomy for the CRNA. They believe that if CRNA’s can be

reimbursed by Medicaid and Medicare and be expected to go to war for the U.S.,

then should be autonomous,(AANA/NOTICES,1998,p1). The future of the CRNA looks

as bright and prosperous as its past has been. As hospitals and government keep

trimming the fat in medical care the more cost effective CRNA’s will gain more

ground as an independent source of quality care. The schooling that CRNA’s go

through will keep evolving to the demands of the field. The demand for higher

qualities in applicants to these schools will rise as the medical community

demands more bang for its buck. I am excited that I have chosen this field to be

my future specialty and look forward to the challenges that lay before me.

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