American Association of Nurse Anesthetists is an organization of professional nursing with over 47,000 members (who are registered certified nurses in anesthesia) in the United States of America, founded in 1931. It has its main headquarter at Park Ridge, Illinois, but it has associations’ members groups in every State. Additionally, the students who are specializing in anesthesia/anesthesiology education programs in accredited University or colleges are registered with the organization under the associate anesthetists student membership (AANA, 2014).
The main focus of AANA is to push for high-quality standards in the health care sector. Thus, to make sure this goal is achieved, it makes sure its members (who are involved in more than 35 million anesthesia care cases all over the united state every year) provide professional health care and maintain the ethics of the professional. Moreover, the organization has the interest of the public at heart in that in providing anesthesia care to people in the rural and underserved areas where the government presences is not felt. As a result of this humanitarian act, it has become the main provider of anesthesia care in remote and rural areas of the United States. Furthermore, it is the biggest anesthetists consultant agency for the government and private entities across the country (Explorehealthcareers, 2014).
As a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) organization, it gets involved where cases of anesthesia are available. Its involvement is by advocating total care and safety for the patients through its members with the help of other health practitioners. Hence, this is achieved by management of pain or trauma of patients who require anesthetics. This is from simple procedures to complicated procedures such as heart surgery (Bitar et al., 2003). Essentially, the focus of the association is to make sure patient do not suffer or traumatize after undergoing treatment at the hospital’s delivery room, surgical theater or dentist clinics. Therefore, to achieve this goal, members of the organization at their designated location are advice to provide care and information required to the patient before, during and after procedure. Moreover, they monitor the patient progress while at the hospital or home if possible to ensure the patient’s total comfort and safety.
The AANA works closely with the federal government and congress through its CRNA Political Action Committee in Washington, which makes sure the organization voice, is heard on matters that touched on the nurse anesthesia practice. As such, the committee tracks and checks the state and federal legislation and sees if the interests of the members are contained in the laws. Furthermore, it makes sure that patients have access to quality affordable health care which guarantees their safety of the patient in clinical settings. Furthermore, association lobbies for educational funding on the students, reimbursements and environment that is conducive in the health care centers (AANA, 2014).
The mission of the organization is “advances patient safety, practice excellence, and its members’ profession”.
The vision that wants to achieve is “be a preeminent professional association for healthcare and patient safety.”
The values that the form the organization's foundation includes; quality, wellness, compassion, diversity professionalism and collaboration’
The motto that guide and inspire the member is ‘Safe and Effective Anesthesia Care’
The vision, mission, values and the motto of the organization aims at changing the healthcare environment by providing effective personal care to the patient at lower reasonable cost with a high degree of professionalism.
The organization is under the board of directors who makes the major decisions that affects the welfare of the whole organization. The board is compost of President (Pearce P. Sharon, CRNA, MSN), an elected president, vice-president, treasurer and seven other members who present different regions (a region is made of several State associations put together) of the United State. Meanwhile, the day to day activities of the organization are managed by staff members headed by Executive Director, CEO Wilson Wanda, CRNA, Ph.D. She is helped by Chief Operating Officer Jung Margaret S, MBA (AANA, 2014)
The organization organizes an annual meeting where members meet to discuss current events in the field and interaction of members across the country. In essence, the main purpose of the meeting is to provide educational lectures on a variety of topics that are aimed at increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of the members at their work station. Additionally, it facilitates networking of the members, and it is also an avenue where recent researches in the field are unveiled. As a result, companies get the opportunity to showcase their latest technology and products (Petty et al., 2002). The next upcoming general meeting that is already in planning will be on 29th August to 1st September in Utah at the Grand America Hotel. Moreover, the organization organizes workshops and seminars where speakers are invited to give lectures on important topics on the field (AANA, 2014).
A nurse who wishes to become a member of this organization needs to attend and pass an exam on the anesthesia education program. However, for a nurse to qualify for the program, he/she is required to have a Bs in nursing, license of a registered nurse and one-year experience. Additionally, the body provides education assistance to nurses who don’t have enough funds to undertake the program. Thus, to encourage more students to the field of anesthetist, the organization offers education scholarship to students in university and colleges to pursue their dream in anesthetist. Moreover, members who want to advance their education in the field they can apply for grants or scholarship (AANA, 2014).
The organization is also committed to exhausting all the information and knowledge in this area. Thus, Practicing CRNAs, who wish to undertake research but don’t have adequate resources, they are invited to partner with the association. In this way, they can collaboratively undertake these important elements which add value to the field of anesthesia (AANA, 2014).
References
AANA. (2014). About Us. Retrieved from http://www.aana.com/aboutus/Pages/default.aspx
Bitar, G., Mullis, W., Jacobs, W., Matthews, D., Beasley, M., Smith, K., & Eaves 3rd, F. (2003). Safety and efficacy of office-based surgery with monitored anesthesia care/sedation in 4778 consecutive plastic surgery procedures.Plastic and reconstructive surgery, 111(1), 150-6.
Explorehealthcareers. (2014). Nurse Anesthetist | explorehealthcareers.org. Retrieved from http://explorehealthcareers.org/en/Career/80/Nurse_Anesthetist
Petty, W. C., Kremer, M., & Biddle, C. (2002). A synthesis of the Australian Patient Safety Foundation Anesthesia Incident Monitoring Study, the American Society of Anesthesiologists Closed Claims Project, and the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists Closed Claims Study. AANA journal, 70(3), 193-202.
