If WA state lawmakers mess with anesthesia care, they’ll be doing more harm than good | Opinion

You probably aren’t thinking about our state legislature when you are in a hospital getting ready to be put under for surgery. And trust me, as a certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA) licensed to provide anesthesia care, I’m not thinking about the state legislature then, either.

I’m thinking about your medical history so I may prepare the safest anesthetic and answer any questions you may have prior to your procedure. Before you go to sleep, you’ll trust that I’ll be there with you until you wake up.

As a certified registered nurse anesthetist in our state, I have all the skills necessary to provide care independently. These skills were obtained during a decade of education, clinical nursing, and anesthesia training. I completed my nursing degree, provided patient care for four years, and then completed a 30-month master’s degree in anesthesia nursing. As a CRNA with nearly 18 months of experience, I worked side-by-side three other CRNAs and a physician anesthesiologist in a U.S. Army Hospital.

Peer-reviewed studies show the same great safety outcomes for patients whether it is a CRNA providing care or an anesthesiologist. It was an honor to pursue my CRNA training while serving in the Army, where I was the sole provider of anesthesia near the battlefield in Babylon, Iraq and in other non-combat military facilities.

So what does the state legislature have to do with any of this?

There is a severe staffing crisis in health care and our elected leaders are looking at ways to make it easier for patients to access care. A few great ideas include investing in higher education and encouraging better collaboration between hospitals and universities to bolster clinical experience.

One idea that doesn’t make sense is a controversial proposal to allow for something in our state called an anesthesiologist assistant (AA). Adding yet another type of job to fit through the same clogged pipeline for training health care professionals will make it even harder for our existing care providers to get trained, making the staffing crisis worse. AAs are not allowed to provide anesthesia care to patients without a physician present. This means more physician anesthesiologists will be needed to help the same amount of people, and our staffing shortage will be left unaddressed.

Improving access to care for all patients is a passion of mine and all CRNAs. In the Tri-Cities, CRNAs work independently in all the hospitals. At Lourdes and Kadlec, CRNAs and anesthesiologists work collaboratively with each providing independent anesthesia to patients. Prosser, Trios, Sunnyside, and many other hospitals rely solely on CRNAs for care.

CRNAs provide care at a lower cost in many places with few anesthesiologists. In more urban places, it is common for anesthesiologists and CRNAs to work together in providing care, even though our state’s laws don’t require it. In these larger hospitals, changing the model to include AAs will do nothing to lower costs for patients and will leave the staffing crisis unaddressed.

In our part of the state and in more rural places, CRNAS are working in 93% of all hospitals. In 72% of rural hospitals, they are the only anesthesia provider. This shows that increasing the number of independent anesthesia providers, like CRNAs, could alleviate the staffing crisis.

AAs just aren’t necessary. I think that’s one reason these assistants are only allowed in 13 states.

The current staffing crisis is a real problem and I appreciate that lawmakers are giving it some attention. I hope that they can help increase how much we invest in our universities and inspire greater collaboration to streamline access to clinical training. The bylaws of some individual hospitals could also be updated so that CRNAs may provide care at the same level utilized by several hospitals and authorized in state law.

But this proposal to allow for AAs in our state doesn’t line up with Washington’s strengths and the laws already on the books. I hope that it is set aside so that effective efforts can be advanced in the interest of patients.