Anesthesiologists should advocate for patient safety
The Clean Air Act, which passed 375-1 in 1970, clearly authorized the EPA to regulate harmful pollutants.
It is often said that the best anesthesiologist is the one who is never remembered. And, although most people require anesthesia at least once in their lives, perhaps this is the very reason the field of anesthesiology is one very few know about. It is therefore time anesthesiologists start to advocate for their patients. This is especially crucial as an increasing number of procedures in New Mexico are being conducted without a supervising anesthesiologist, solely by certified registered nurse anesthetists.
Such nurse anesthetists are an integral and necessary part of the health care team. However, as the practice of anesthesia carries great risk, New Mexicans deserve the safest anesthesia care, which integrates anesthesiologists and nurse anesthetists working together. When seconds count, such as during cardiac arrest, stroke or a severe allergic reaction, education and training can mean the difference between life and death.
Anesthesiologists are medical doctors with 12 to 14 years of education, including premedical and medical school training, an internship, as well as three years of specialized training in the field of anesthesiology. Many also then pursue an additional one-year fellowship training in either pediatrics, critical care, cardiac surgery or chronic pain treatment, just to name a few. This adds up to between 12,000 to 16,000 clinical hours. Anesthesiologists, along with the American Society of Anesthesiologists, act as patient advocates, ensuring patient safety by creating industry standards that are utilized not only in the United States but throughout the world.
The current law in New Mexico states that certified registered nurse anesthetists may practice in an interdependent role as a member of the team in which the care is directed by a licensed physician, dentist or podiatrist. Anesthesia staffing companies, however, sometimes misinterpret the law and staff operating rooms solely with nurse anesthetists without a readily accessible physician anesthesiologist.
As this is an unsafe practice model, it has created an undesirable environment for anesthesiologists to practice in, forcing many to leave the state. For several years, there have been attempts to change the law to allow these nurses to practice without any physician oversight whatsoever, which is a dangerous idea and is one that is not in the best interest of patient safety. This coming legislative session, certified registered nurse anesthetists will again attempt to gain independent practice throughout the state, including urban areas where many high-risk patients receive their surgical care.
If this law were passed and signed into law, patients would be left with care that is inherently higher risk than when a physician anesthesiologist is available. So, the next time you or your loved ones are asked to count backward from 10, make sure you know whether a physician anesthesiologist will be involved in your surgical care.