CRNAs offer more experience and training

To the editor:

Regarding the statement that anesthesiologist assistants are interchangeable with a certified registered nurse anesthetist: CRNAs provide 85 percent of anesthesia care to rural hospitals in Missouri and have an established safety record, which is evidenced by a 62 percent decrease in professional liability premiums over the last decade. AAs have no sufficient statistical data to support their safety in the operating room.

When your family is in the operating room, who do you want giving the anesthesia?

Let's consider the educational background of AAs: There are no minimum grade requirements for admission to this program. Clinical experience with patients prior to admission isn't needed. The Medical College Admission Test isn't required.

In order to be admitted into a CRNA program, the applicant must be a nurse with a bachelor's degree and minimum of one year of experience in intensive care unit nursing.

Applicants to the AA program must have a bachelor's degree with the minimum course work required for admission to medical school.

AAs have only existed for 30 years and have only two schools in the nation.

Approximately 1,500 CRNA students will graduate this year and have provided anesthesia in the United States for over 100 years.

One local hospital offers medicine to the highest power, while the other claims that experience counts. Now area residents must decide what is the minimum they will accept.

SCOTT ROTH

Cape Girardeau