Illinois Nurse Anesthetists Celebrate National CRNA Week
For Immediate Release: January 26, 2015
Contact: Jennifer Greenwood, PhD
Lake County Nurse Anesthetists Celebrate 150 Years of Providing Quality and Excellence in Anesthesia Care
Libertyville, IL - In recognition of their profession's long history and enduring record of patient safety, Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) in Libertyville, Lake Forest, Waukegan and across the country are celebrating the 16th annual National CRNA Week, January 25-31, 2015, with the unified mantra "Quality and Excellence in Anesthesia Care." To the greater than 1600 CRNAs that practice in Illinois, we say thank you for the service your provide.
Established by the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists, National CRNA Week was created to encourage CRNAs to take the opportunity to educate the public about anesthesia safety, questions to ask prior to undergoing surgery, and the benefits of receiving anesthesia care from nurse anesthetists.
"One of the many rewards of being a nurse anesthetist is providing patients with the comfort of knowing that I will be by their side monitoring their every heart beat and adjusting their anesthetics to ensure a pain free and safe anesthesia experience," said Jeff Dirst, CRNA "National CRNA Week serves as an opportunity to inform the public exactly what CRNAs do and who we are."
Nurse anesthetists are advanced practice registered nurses who administer more than 34 million anesthetics in the United States each year. Practicing in every setting where anesthesia is available, CRNAs are the sole anesthesia professionals in the vast majority of rural hospitals and have been the main provider of anesthesia care to U.S. service men and women on the front lines since World War I. CRNAs are critical to the delivery of essential healthcare in hundreds of communities across Illinois. Their services prevent gaps in access to anesthesia care, especially in rural, inner-city, and other medically underserved areas of our state. CRNAs are highly educated and prepared to deliver anesthesia to patients in exactly the same ways, for the same types of procedures, and just as safely as physician anesthesiologists.
"I take pride in belonging to a profession that has been at the forefront of anesthesia patient safety for 150 years. CRNAs play a key role in developing trends related to monitoring technology, anesthetic drugs, and standards of care. In fact, due to continuing research and education, anesthesia today is nearly 50 times safer than it was 20 years ago," said Emily MacArthur, CRNA.
For more information about the care provided by CRNAs, visit the Illinois Association of Nurse Anesthetists at www.ilcrna.com or www. AANA.com
About the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA):
Founded in 1931 and located in Park Ridge, Ill., the AANA is the professional organization representing more than 48,000 Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) and student registered nurse anesthetists. As advanced practice registered nurses, CRNAs safely administer more than 34 million anesthetics to patients in the United States each year.