Who are the practitioners?
An anesthesiologist is a consultant physician, a medical doctor with an MD or DO degree, who specializes in the anesthetic care of patients before, during, and after surgical or obstetrical (labor and childbirth) procedures
The anesthesiologist is trained to manage the often multiple, serious medical conditions of patients while they undergo major surgical operations, and to advise the surgeon in preparing such patients medically prior to the surgery. In addition, our specialty encompasses the management of pain, both the acute pain that can follow surgery or childbirth, as well as chronic pain conditions that can result from illness or injury.
After college, and four years of medical school, the physician must serve a period of internship and residency, a combination of theoretical school and hands-on apprenticeship that lasts four years, during which time the trainee learns the science and craft of our specialty. After successful completion of this intensive training period, the graduate is eligible to submit to a rigorous set of written and oral examinations administered by experts in our field. If these examinations are successfully passed, the anesthesiologist becomes a Diplomate of the American Board of Anesthesiology--that is, he or she is board-certified in anesthesiology.
For more information about the medical specialty of anesthesiology and about its practitioners, anesthesiologists, please visit the American Society of Anesthesiologists and the American Board of Anesthesiology.
A nurse anesthetist is a registered nurse with experience in the care of critically ill patients, who has obtained additional training in the administration of anesthetics to surgical and obstetrical patients.
The nurse anesthetist attends an accredited nurse anesthesia education program of two to three years' duration, and upon graduation must pass a written national certification examination. Successful completion of this examination earns the graduate the designation CRNA, or Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist.
The training and practice of the CRNA is comparable to that of other advanced-practice nurses, such as nurse-clinicians or nurse-practitioners. In most states anesthetists work closely with, and under the medical supervision of, a physician. Anesthetists provide anesthesia care in a variety of professional settings, such as hospital or outpatient surgical center operating rooms, labor and delivery suites, pain management clinics, and physicians' offices.
For more information about nurse anesthetists, please visit the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists.
How do the different practitioners work together to administer my anesthetic?
In this country most anesthetics are administered under what is termed the anesthesia care-team model. Under this model, anesthesiologists and anesthetists work together to formulate the plan of anesthesia for a given patient, and to carry out the plan. Although serious anesthesia-related complications are so rare that one must look at hundreds of thousands of cases to draw any statistically valid conclusions about safety issues, the best evidence indicates that:
This care-team model is the predominant mode of practice within Anesthesia Associates of Louisville, although we also practice anesthesiologist-administered anesthesia as well.
Anesthesia Associates of Louisville has worked hard to recruit and retain only the most qualified and capable individuals from either discipline, and we work together seamlessly because our common goal is to provide high-quality, humane care to our surgical patients
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