Newswise, June 15, 2016 —Physician anesthesiologists and Veterans
announce opposition to a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) proposed
policy that removes physician anesthesiologists from surgery and replaces them
with nurses, and urge the public to protect safe VA care by telling the VA to
reject this policy.
Without physician involvement in anesthesia care, the VA will
lower the standard of care for Veterans and put their health and lives at risk.
The policy change is based on a shortage of some types of
physicians in VA. However, there is no shortage of physician anesthesiologists
and the change is not needed to improve access to anesthesia care in surgery.
The policy would abandon a proven model of care where physician
anesthesiologists and nurse anesthetists work together as a team to provide
Veterans high-quality and safe anesthesia.
Surgery and anesthesia are inherently dangerous, requiring physician involvement, especially for VA patients who often are sicker and have multiple medical conditions that put them at greater risk for complications.
The VA’s own internal evaluation of the relevant studies regarding health outcomes of patients receiving care from nurse anesthetists practicing independently concluded that the evidence was biased and insufficient to support making a policy change. VA’s Quality Enhancement Research Initiative (QUERI) could not discern “whether more complex surgeries can be safely managed by CRNAs, particularly in small or isolated VA hospitals where preoperative and postoperative health system factors may be less than optimal.”
The proposed policy change was posted to the Federal Register
May 25 and is open for public comment for 60 days. The American Society of
Anesthesiologists urges every American who cares about safe VA care and
protecting the health and lives of the nation’s Veterans to visit
safevacare.org and post a comment to stop VA from removing physician
anesthesiologists from surgery.
More information about the proposed policy and physician
anesthesiologists is available at safevacare.org.
