A serious shortage of Certified
Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) has made an impact on the delivery of
healthcare for a significant portion of the U.S. population, according to the
American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA).
In a September 2000
news release, the AANA cited a decline in anesthesiology resident positions, an increase in office-based
surgery and surgery in places other than hospitals as driving the increased need for CRNAs. Additionally, with managed care continuing to pursue cost-cutting measures, coverage plans are recognizing CRNAs for providing high-quality
anesthesia care with reduced expense to patients and insurance companies. The
cost-efficiency of CRNAs helps keep escalating medical costs down.
According to
AANA’s 1998 Workforce Survey, 35 percent of respondents cited an increase in
the number of CRNA positions, compared with a 20 percent increase in 1997.
Forty-three percent of the nurse anesthetist managers reported open positions
for CRNAs within their departments, ranging from one to 12 available jobs.
Fifty-nine percent of the respondents were actively recruiting CRNAs.
"We are in the
midst of an acute CRNA shortage," said Larry Hornsby, CRNA, president of
the 28,000 member AANA. "The affects of this shortage are being felt in
urban, rural and underserved areas. More nurse anesthesia programs and hospitals
willing to serve as clinical sites would greatly increase our CRNA
numbers."
The escalating
numbers of healthcare procedures requiring anesthesia have increased the need
for CRNAs. However, the demand for services currently exceeds the availability
of these anesthesia providers. In recent years, an increase in the number of
CRNAs who are retiring, combined with decreasing graduation rates from nurse
anesthesia programs, has contributed to the overall decline in CRNA numbers.
University professors have called for more anesthesia programs and clinical
sites to be established in order to enroll more nursing students into the
programs.
In 1990, the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services published findings indicating a national
shortage of almost 5,400 nurse anesthetists. The study concluded that nurse
anesthesia educational programs would need to produce between 1,500 and 1,800
graduates annually to meet societal nurse anesthesia demands by the year 2010.
Nevertheless, only about 1,000 nurse anesthesia students graduate annually.
CRNAs are anesthesia
specialists who administer approximately 65 percent of the 26 million
anesthetics given to patients each year in the United States. CRNAs are the sole
anesthesia providers in nearly half of all hospitals and more than two-thirds of
the rural hospitals in the United States, affording these medical facilities
obstetrical, surgical, and trauma stabilization capabilities which cannot be
achieved without CRNA anesthesia services.
