What is a CRNA?
CRNAs are the core of Excel’s business. We are often asked, “What exactly is a CRNA?”. The acronym is not commonly known outside the healthcare industry, but if you’ve ever had a medical procedure requiring anesthesia, there’s a good chance that you’ve taken advantage of CRNA services.
The Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) is one of the four Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRN) roles. CRNAs provides the full spectrum of patients’ anesthesia care and anesthesia-related care for individuals of all ages, across all recognized levels of acuity, including persons with immediate, severe, or life-threatening illnesses or injury. This care is provided in diverse settings, including hospital surgical suites.
CRNA licenses are issued by Boards of Nursing but education and certification models vary by state. Each state independently decides:
• The CRNA legal scope of practice
• Criteria for advanced practice qualification
• Certification examinations accepted for entry-level competence assessment
States independently deciding regulatory requirements is one of the issues currently under discussion among APRNs. As long as regulatory requirements differ from state to state, each state border represents an obstacle to portability—potentially preventing access to professionals and access to care. The National Council on State Boards of Nursing has developed a Consensus Model for APRN Regulation which outlines regulatory requirements in licensure, accreditation, certification and education that should be adopted by every state. If all states adopt the regulatory requirements for CRNAs as outlined in the APRN Consensus Model, the benefits will be far reaching for healthcare professionals, regulators and consumers, with the most important result being improved patient access to quality healthcare.
For more information see:
https://www.ncsbn.org (National Council of State Boards of Nursing)
http://www.aana.com (American Association of Nurse Anesthetists)
http://www.kana.org (Kansas Association of Nurse Anesthetists)
http://www.moana.org (Missouri Association of Nurse Anesthetists)
