Message from the ASA President

This week the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) continued its misleading and manipulative actions and changed its name to the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology. But this organizational name change won’t stop us from aggressively challenging their attempts to threaten clear identification of roles and advance nurse-only care. Every patient deserves to know and understand the education, training, skills, and experience of the health care professionals providing their care. AANA’s name-changing—and their blatant encouragement of their members to use the term “nurse anesthesiologist”—falsely suggests that nurses are medical doctors and leaders of the science of anesthesiology. This title misappropriation is a deceptive use of established medical terms, which is part of their continuing push for nurse-only practice, which can jeopardize our patients’ safety and well-being. Furthermore, it misleads the public and engages in the pretense that nurse anesthetists’ education and training are equivalent to that of physicians. While we do not support AANA’s deceitful actions, I know many of us value our nurse anesthetist colleagues and the important work all of us do together every day. We also know nurse anesthetists value and recognize the importance of our physician-led, team-based model of care—a model ASA is dedicated to preserving and enhancing along with our shared commitment to patients. Throughout the spring and summer, we have shared our efforts to fight medical title misappropriation at every level and in every arena. The AANA name change could trigger additional legislative and institutional actions that might support unacceptable medical title misappropriation. While we continue to recognize the value of our nurse anesthetist colleagues, we must continue to fight AANA leadership and their harmful initiatives.

We also ask you to join us by: • Reviewing ASA’s position statement on AANA’s name change • Accessing facts and background (PDF) information about AANA’s history of misrepresentations. • Accessing talking points and FAQs (PDF) for use in conversations with your nurse anesthetist colleagues. • Reading our most recent open letter to nurse anesthetists. • Sharing and engaging with ASA social media posts.

Together we can protect our patients and specialty. Sincerely, Beverly K. Philip, MD, FACA, FASA