| This
is CRNA Week
January 25-31 Every rural American should know that 1,500 rural hospitals rely solely on CRNAs for anesthesia service. In the administration of anesthesia, CRNAs perform the same functions as anesthesiologists and provide anesthetics to patients in collaboration with surgeons and other physicians. Each year CRNAs provide more than 34 million anesthetics and related services for patients during surgery and other procedures, labor and delivery, acute and chronic pain management, and trauma care. CRNAs stay with their patients throughout their procedure, monitoring their vital signs and adjusting their anesthetics to ensure the safest, most comfortable anesthesia experiences possible. Nurse anesthetists have been providing anesthesia care in the United States for 150 years. Today’s CRNAs are the hands-on-providers of more than 34 million anesthetics given to patients each year. According to a report from the Institute of Medicine, anesthesia care today is nearly 50 times safer than it was in the 1980s. St. Mary’s Hospital would like to thank our CRNAs; Dennis Tracy and Mike Berg for the service they provide for our patients. 
Mike Berg and Dennis Tracy, CRNAs for St. Mary’s Hospital. Photo provided by Cheri Holthaus. |
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