PANA President’s Message for CRNA Week in Pa.

Did you know the Pennsylvania Association of Nurse Anesthetists (PANA) represents approximately 4,000 certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs) and student anesthetists? That’s a powerful coalition of highly skilled and trained professionals.

Did you also know that Pennsylvania is among the top draws nationally for CRNA students, with 15 highly rated nurse anesthetist programs spread across the commonwealth? That dedication to education and training – the average nurse anesthetist completes more than 9,000 clinical hours – is what makes us among the most trusted health-care professionals.

This week, we celebrate all the innovative leaders who provide exceptional care to their patients during their most vulnerable moments. But CRNA Week in Pa. isn’t just about thanking you for all you do, it’s also about making sure the entire health-care community and general public take a moment to reflect on your heroic work.

You are the hands-on provider of anesthesia care, practicing in every setting where anesthesia is administered, especially rural and underserved areas, where CRNAs are the primary providers of anesthesia care, often practicing independently.

Nurse anesthetists are usually the last person a patient sees before a surgical procedure begins, and the first they see when they awake. Because of your advanced degrees and a high level of education and clinical experience, you are able to respond quickly to patient changes during surgical and medical procedures, ensuring patient health and safety. That’s why numerous medical studies validate your practice, even for rare and difficult procedures.

Over the next few days, we will pause briefly to praise you as providers of exceptional care and celebrate your work as innovative leaders and advocates for patient care – not just during this hallmark week, but throughout the entire year. So, on behalf of PANA, I want to wish everyone a happy National CRNA Week in Pa.! 

Debra Minzola, Ph.D., CRNA

President 

Pennsylvania Association of Nurse Anesthetists

Certified registered nurse anesthetists provide competent care in the operating room | PennLive letters

Published: Jan. 12, 2025, 10:00 a.m. by PennLive.com

Patients undergoing surgery or procedures requiring anesthesia are safe when cared for by a physician anesthesiologist, a certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA), or both. The perceived shortage of anesthesia providers (“Pennsylvania doctors are sounding the alarm over health insurers putting profits above patient care,” Jan. 3) relates to outdated and restrictive laws that prevent CRNAs from practicing to their fullest scope.

Certified registered nurse anesthetists are the hands-on providers of anesthesia care, practicing in every setting where anesthesia is administered. In fact, nurse anesthetists are usually the last person a patient sees before a surgical procedure begins, and the first they see when they awake. They are with their patients for every breath during the procedure.

Because of their training and experience – the average nurse anesthetist completes an average of 9,369 clinical hours of training prior to becoming a CRNA – numerous medical studies show there is no statistical difference in patient outcomes when a nurse anesthetist provides treatment compared to a physician anesthesiologist, even for rare and difficult procedures.

Physician anesthesiologists’ concerns about safety are undermined by attempts to push regulations that would allow a new category of unlicensed and unproven anesthesia providers, posing serious liability concerns for health-care facilities, driving up health-care costs, and doing absolutely nothing to increase access to anesthesia care in rural and underserved areas, where CRNAs are the primary providers of anesthesia care, often practicing independently.

As health-care demands grow, empowering CRNAs to practice to the fullest extent of their education and training is key to containing costs while maintaining the highest level of care.

Jodie Szlachta, Ph.D., CRNA, President-elect, Pennsylvania Association of Nurse Anesthetists

Editorial: State waivers let Pa. health care function in the pandemic

TRIBUNE-REVIEW | Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021 5:01 a.m.

A worker shortage in the pandemic economy has been troubling employers for months.

But if you think scaled-back hours at your favorite pizza shop are difficult to handle, try staffing a long-term care home without enough nursing assistants. A short-staffed restaurant can cause irate customers. Not enough nurses for the patients can have much worse consequences.

Regulatory waivers from the state helped keep the medical industry’s wheels spinning, despite the staffing shortages. Those waivers expire Sept. 30.

The waivers in question allowed, for example, out-of-state doctors and nurses to practice in Pennsylvania without licensure issues. In-state medical professionals who had retired or let their licenses lapse as they went into other professions could return to jobs where they were desperately needed without having to jump through bureaucratic hoops.

They also helped those already at work. They made it possible for nurses who were too busy filling shifts to get their continuing education credits to keep going without license hurdles. They allowed nurse practitioners to work in a streamlined fashion with multiple doctors in a health system.

In normal times, a little red tape can be a good thing. These were good rules to have in place in 2019. They make the system accountable. Health care isn’t an area where you want to cut corners.

But in 2020, having enough people to perform the important tasks of testing for illness, treating people in the emergency room, manning the respirators and all of the other tasks the sick and vulnerable needed to be performed — that was the most important thing.

The question now is this: Is it time to let the waivers go, or is it too soon?

The state’s emergency orders came to an end after the May primary, when voters approved an amendment that changed the rules, requiring the Legislature to extend a governor’s order. However, the pandemic didn’t end just because the order did. The delta variant has prompted numbers to rise again, stressing hospitals once more.

The system gets stressed not because of a lack of hospital beds. It’s more about the lack of staff to handle the load, which is what makes the impending expiration problematic. And flu season has barely started.

The Legislature and Gov. Tom Wolf need to do what they are particularly bad at doing. They need to work together to find a smart, efficient solution to the state’s medical staffing problems.

More doctors and nurses and health professionals of all kinds are needed on the floors of hospitals and nursing homes. There are shortages that predate the pandemic and will live long after it is over, so getting together to address these issues is more than just an emergency. It’s a chronic condition, and someone has to manage it.