CA Nurses Can Administer Anesthetics

A state appeals court has ruled nurses who are trained as anesthetists do not need a doctor’s supervision to give anesthetics to California hospital patients.  I think the impact will be primarily felt in rural communities where it is often more challenging to recruit acute and specialty staff.

A state appeals court has ruled nurses who are trained as anesthetists do not need a doctor’s supervision to give anesthetics to California hospital patients.  I think the impact will be primarily felt in rural communities where it is often more challenging to recruit acute and specialty staff.

I understand the concerns of physicians, but if I’m the injured or laboring patient experiencing serious pain in the rural hospital ER – that hasn’t been able to recruit sufficient anesthesisa coverage, I’ll take the medications from a well trained nurse who isn’t being supervised during the administration process.

We have a physician specialist distribution issue and we need to find new ways to deliver the care patients need.

Also see Moderninzing Rural Health Care and Rural Healthcare: Increasing Access to Physicians and Technology.