The Effects of Anesthesia Availability and CRNA Scope of Practice on Veterans’ Access to Surgery-The Effects of Anesthesia Availability and CRNA Scope of Practice on Veterans' Access to Surgery

Video Transcription

Video Summary

In this comprehensive presentation, Hilda Nugent from the Professional Development Committee kicked things off with housekeeping announcements and introduced the day's speakers, Dr. Kevin Griffith and Julia Harris. Dr. Griffith, an Assistant Professor of Health Policy and an investigator at the VA Boston, and Ms. Harris, owner of Vaporworks Nursing Anesthesia and a Health Policy PhD candidate, discussed their study on the effects of anesthesia availability and CRNA practice scope on veteran access to surgery.<br /><br />The research, supported by the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology, examined 1.7 million surgeries within the VA system, focusing on differences in patient outcomes between anesthesia provided by CRNAs (both independently and supervised) and MD anesthesiologists. The aim was to determine if supervision intensity impacted patient safety and if changes during the public health emergency affected surgical outcomes.<br /><br />Their findings indicated no significant differences in surgical complications across different anesthesia care models. This suggests that CRNAs, whether supervised or not, provided comparable care to MD anesthesiologists. The study's results also showed that lower supervision ratios did not correlate with increased patient safety concerns. Furthermore, changes in anesthesia practice during the pandemic were not linked to higher rates of surgical complications.<br /><br />These findings highlight that CRNAs can safely meet the growing demand for anesthesia providers, especially given the projected shortages of MD anesthesiologists. This has implications for policy-making, potentially supporting more flexible anesthesia care models to address provider shortages and improve access to surgical care for veterans. The study is ongoing, with future plans to examine specific specialties, patient demographics, and further workforce analyses.

Keywords

Hilda Nugent

Kevin Griffith

Julia Harris

CRNA practice scope

anesthesia availability

veteran surgery access

VA system

patient outcomes

surgical complications

anesthesia care models