Anaesthesia--room for advancing nurse practice?
Nurse anaesthesia has been a topic of debate in the UK for many years. I use the word debate loosely because in order to debate one has to be in possession of the facts about the chosen subject. Certainly the subject of nurse anaesthesia evokes very mixed emotions ranging from cautious interest to complete denial that this type of practitioner is of any benefit to the health care industry. Comments such as "it is an idea taken up by some states in the USA and by a number of other countries with a mixed degree of success" and "British anaesthesia ... would neither be improved nor made cheaper by the introduction of nurse anaesthesia" are made from, in this author's opinion, a lack of knowledge about this type of practitioner and their benefits. Accurate and unbiased information about nurse anaesthesia is hard to come by in the UK, therefore, how can accurate comments and opinions be made about this subject.
Preston
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D002568:Certification; D006801:Humans; D016294:Models, Nursing; D009719:Nurse Anesthetists / Q000193:education / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006113:United Kingdom; D014481:United States