The Anesthesia Record

A few of my classmates and I had the opportunity to attend the AANA conference in Washington D.C. last week.  We spent the first two days learning about the major issues and legislation affecting our profession.  We heard from the AANA president as well as a number of the organization's lobbyists and a few of our nation's elected officials.  The final two days of the four-day event were devoted to making our voices heard on Capital Hill.  Assembly attendees were divided into groups by the state in which we each live.  Each group then met with the senators and members of congress representing that state for about 15 minutes total.  Because the meetings were so short, we were encouraged to be very direct and candid to those with whom we met. 

The major topics we hoped to discuss in each meeting included:

- Reversing 21.2% cuts to Medicare Part B CRNA and Physician Services with the hopes of creating a permanent fix.

- Restoring rural access to nurse anesthesia care, as many rural hospitals are no longer receiving on-call funding (due to recent changes in legislation) and are thus unable to provide the anesthesia services needed for trauma stabilization and OB care that occur during nighttime or weekend hours.

- Expanding access to CRNAs through Graduate Nursing Education.  This includes an increase in educational funding from $3 million to $4 million to support CRNA education as well as an adjustment to the teaching rules, which currently reimburse an anesthesiologist 100% for each of the operating rooms in which he/she is instructing at least 2 anesthesiology residents but only 50% for those helmed by SRNAs.  (Note that when a CRNA is instructing 2 SRNAs, he/she is reimbursed 100%.  Makes.  No.  Sense.)  If SRNAs are to receive adequate and equitable training from anesthesiologists, our physician counterparts must be compensated equally.  Thus, we asked for full reimbursement for those anesthesiologists who instruct SRNAs in the clinical setting.

The majority of the elected officials that I had the opportunity to meet were kind and supportive, though some were less open to hearing our concerns.  Regardless of the political outcome, it was a great learning experience and really opened my eyes to the importance of political activism for the future of our profession.  And on top of all that, I had the opportunity to meet some really cool anesthesia students from far away lands such as Portland, Richmond, Raleigh, and Charlotte.  One of whom was Heather, otherwise known as "wake-up-at-two-AM-to-go-running-before-clinical Girl".  She is such a freaking go-getter and I am not kidding when I say that she is who I aspire to be when I grow up.  Except that she's younger than me.  Which, when you think about it, is both inspiring and depressing.

For those who can't believe that I chose to hoof it around DC for 4 days in lieu of listening to the rhythmic and comforting sounds of the heart rate monitor while kicking it in a plush OR chair (and really, you have a point there), below are the pictures to prove it.  Booyah!