METROPLEX NEWS RELEASE
Contact: Alycia Hooper
254-519-8119
January 26, 2009
For Immediate Release
Nurse Anesthetists Become Patients’ Eyes and Ears During Surgery
KILLEEN — For many, the knowledge of impending surgery can be worrisome. Thoughts of cold operating rooms, beeping monitors, masked faces, and sharp instruments all add to the unease. The reassuring news is that an expert anesthesia provider will keep you safe and comfortable during your procedure. More often than not, that expert will be a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA), according to Warren Voegele, CRNA.
As the hands-on providers of more than 30 million anesthetics delivered in the United States each year, CRNAs touch the lives of countless patients and their families annually. In honor of this responsibility and privilege, and to celebrate a sterling record of patient safety that extends back to the late 1800s, nurse anesthetists all across America will celebrate National Nurse Anesthetists Week January 25-31, 2009.
“CRNAs are the patients’ eyes and ears during surgery,” said Voegele. “We are the patients’ advocates when they can’t speak for themselves. It’s an awesome responsibility and a sacred trust upon which our profession has built its reputation for safety and quality care.
“CRNAs take their patients through the entire operative process – inducing sleep, monitoring vital signs, adjusting anesthesia levels, and waking the patient after surgery,” added Voegele.
Although nurse anesthetists were the first anesthesia providers, much of the public is unaware that today CRNAs practice in every part of the country, deliver every type of anesthetic, and work in every setting in which anesthesia care is delivered. Not only are CRNAs a major provider of anesthesia care for the civilian population in the United States, they are the main provider of anesthesia care to American soldiers stationed around the world.
“As a CRNA, you have to be ever vigilant,” said Voegele. “You have to be aware of every heartbeat, every breath, and be ready to respond if something isn’t right. Since the early 1980s, patient deaths related to anesthesia mishaps have declined from approximately two for every 10,000 anesthetics given to approximately one for every 240,000 anesthetics given. CRNAs are proud to have played a considerable role in that improvement.”
About the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA)
Founded in 1931 and located in Park Ridge, Ill., the AANA is the professional organization for more than 90 percent of the nation’s CRNAs. As advanced practice nurses, CRNAs administer approximately 30 million anesthetics in the United States each year. CRNAs practice in every setting where anesthesia is available and are the sole anesthesia providers in more than two-thirds of all rural hospitals.
About Metroplex Health System
Metroplex Health System is the primary healthcare provider for West Bell, Coryell and Lampasas counties, offering a wide array of medical specialties and wellness services. The 233-bed, multi-campus facility is a not-for-profit Christian organization operated as a community service by the Adventist Health System and Scott & White Healthcare. Adventist Health System manages 37 hospitals and employs over 43,000 people in the U.S. and is the 10th largest hospital system in the country. Scott & White Healthcare is one of the nation’s largest multi-specialty group practice systems with more than 650 physicians and scientists. Metroplex Health System and Scott & White Healthcare partnered in July 2008.
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