Bill Text: CA ACR117 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Nurse Anesthesiologist Week.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2024-01-04 - From printer. [ACR117 Detail]
Download: California-2023-ACR117-Introduced.html
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Concurrent Resolution
No. 117
| Introduced by Assembly Member Stephanie Nguyen |
January 03, 2024 |
Relative to Nurse Anesthesiologist Week.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
ACR 117, as introduced, Stephanie Nguyen.
Nurse Anesthesiologist Week.
This measure would designate the week of January 21, 2024, to January 27, 2024, inclusive, as Nurse Anesthesiologist Week.
Digest Key
Fiscal Committee: NOBill Text
WHEREAS, Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists, known as CRNAs or nurse anesthesiologists, are anesthesia experts who provide every type of anesthesia, for patients of all ages and medical complexities, for any kind of procedure, and in every health care setting, safely administering more than 50,000,000 anesthetics to patients each year in the United States; and
WHEREAS, CRNAs are the first professional group to provide anesthesia in the United States and are the oldest recognized group of advanced practice registered nurses having administered anesthesia continuously for over 150 years; and
WHEREAS, CRNAs are highly educated anesthesia providers who complete 8 to 10 years of health care and anesthesia education, and more than 12,000 hours of clinical training prior to graduating with a doctorate degree as an expert in the field of anesthesiology, and are required to be board certified; and
WHEREAS, CRNAs are the only anesthesia professionals with critical care experience as registered nurses, for an average of 2.9 years, before beginning their formal doctoral anesthesia education; and
WHEREAS, CRNAs are among the nation’s most trusted professionals who practice in every setting in which anesthesia is delivered, including, but not limited to: traditional hospital surgical suites; labor and delivery rooms; critical access hospitals; ambulatory surgery centers; the offices of dentists, podiatrists, ophthalmologists, and plastic surgeons; as pain management specialists; the United States military, United States Public Health Service, and United States Department of Veterans Affairs health care facilities; and on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic; and
WHEREAS, CRNAs are critical care experts in advanced airway and ventilator management, providing hemodynamic stability, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and crisis management, and CRNAs were vital in providing advanced intensive care and airway management to the sickest of COVID-19 patients in critical care units and emergency rooms; and
WHEREAS, CRNAs have education, training, and expertise in the administration of ketamine infusion therapy for psychiatric disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder, major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, and treatment-resistant depression; and
WHEREAS, CRNAs are full-practice, independent anesthesia providers in every branch of the United States military on the front lines in combat-support hospitals and as the sole anesthesia providers on forward surgical teams; and
WHEREAS, CRNAs are the sole anesthesia providers for more than two-thirds of all rural hospitals in the nation, and without these CRNAs, thousands of rural facilities would be unable to provide trauma stabilization, surgical, and obstetrical capabilities, forcing rural Americans to travel untenable distances for anesthesia and pain management services; and
WHEREAS, CRNAs provide anesthesia services autonomously in 51 out of the 58 California counties, and are the sole anesthesia providers in four rural counties, namely, the Counties of Colusa, Lassen, Modoc, and Trinity; and
WHEREAS, CRNAs are vital to California’s health care system, increasing access to a wide range of high-quality, safe, cost-effective anesthesia and pain management services; and
WHEREAS, Legislation passed by Congress in 1986 made CRNAs the first nursing specialty to be accorded direct reimbursement rights under Medicare; and
WHEREAS, On July 17, 2009, Governor Schwarzenegger exempted California from the Medicare Condition of Payment that required CRNAs to be supervised by a physician in order for health care facilities to receive Medicare Part A and Medi-Cal federal dollars, thereby promoting consistency between federal reimbursement requirements and state law; and
WHEREAS, The California Association of Nurse Anesthesiology is the professional organization representing over 3,000 CRNAs dedicated to advancing patient safety and fostering access to the highest quality anesthesia for all Californians; and
WHEREAS, The American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology has designated the week of January 21, 2024, to January 27, 2024, inclusive, as National Nurse Anesthesiologist Week; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby designates the week of January 21, 2024, to January 27, 2024, inclusive, as Nurse Anesthesiologist Week; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.
