POSITION SUMMARY:
A Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) has the main responsibilities of administering anesthesia and monitoring patients throughout the surgical process including pre-anesthetic preparation and evaluation; anesthesia induction, maintenance, and emergence; post-anesthesia care; and peri-anesthetic/clinical support functions.
DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES
Pre-anesthetic Preparation and Evaluation:
Obtains an appropriate health history
Conducts an appropriate physical screening assessment
Recommends or requests pertinent diagnostic studies.
Selects, obtains, orders and administers pre-anesthetic medications.
Documents the pre-anesthetic evaluation and obtains a comprehensive informed consent for anesthesia and related services.
Intra-operative Care:
Obtaining, preparing and using all equipment, monitors, supplies and drugs used for the administration of anesthesia and sedation techniques, performing and ordering safety checks as needed.
Selects, obtains or administers the anesthetics, adjuvant drugs, accessory drugs, fluids and blood products necessary to manage the anesthetic.
Performing all aspects of airway management, including fiber optic intubations.
Performing and managing regional anesthetic techniques.
Providing appropriate invasive and non-invasive monitoring modalities utilizing current standards and techniques.
Recognizes abnormal patient response during anesthesia, selecting and implementing corrective action and requests consultation whenever necessary.
Evaluates patient response during emergence from anesthesia and institutes pharmacological or supportive treatment to insure patient stability.
Post-anesthesia Care:
Provides post-anesthesia follow up and evaluation of the patient’s response to anesthesia and surgical experience, taking appropriate corrective actions and requests consultation when indicated.
Initiating and administering respiratory support to ensure adequate ventilation and oxygen in the post-anesthesia period.
Initiating and administering pharmacological or fluid support of the cardiovascular system during the post-anesthesia period to prevent morbidity and mortality.
Initiating acute post-anesthesia pain management techniques.
Discharging patients from a post-anesthesia care area according to policy.
Clinical Support Functions:
Inserting arterial catheters and performing arterial puncture to obtain arterial blood samples.
Managing emergency situations, including initiating or participating in cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Providing consultation and implementation of respiratory and ventilatory care.
Management of interventional pain therapy utilizing drugs, regional anesthetic techniques or other accepted pain relief modalities.
Using consultation appropriate, selecting, obtaining, ordering and/or administering medications or treatments related to the care of the patient.
Accepting additional responsibilities which are within the expertise of the CRNA.
Special Requests:
Diagnostic and therapeutic injections with or without fluoroscopic guidance; including epidural, spinal, facet joint, selective nerve and sympathetic blocks.
NON-CLINICAL RESPONSIBLITIES:
Administrative/management:
Scheduling, material and supply management
Supervision of staff, students or ancillary personnel
Development of policies and procedures
Fiscal management, preventative maintenance and billing and data management.
Quality assessment:
Data collection, reporting mechanism, trending, compliance, committee meetings, departmental review, problem-focused studies, problem solving, interventions, documentation and process oversight.
Educational:
Performs clinical and didactic teaching, in-services and facility continuing education.
Maintains knowledge of current scientific theories, principles and techniques related to the field of anesthesia and its current practice.
Committee appointments:
Assignment to committees, committee responsibilities, coordination of committee activities.
Interdepartmental liaison:
Interface with other departments such as nursing, surgery, outpatient surgery, pharmacy, etc.
Member of AANA (American Association of Nurse Anesthetists).
Demonstrate appropriateness in meeting objectives in age-specifics.
Performs other duties as assigned.
