Check out this article...puts the CRNA issue in a very interesting light

[mspell]

"Some Hospitals Call 911 to Save Their Patients
By REED ABELSON
Should a hospital be able to handle a medical emergency?
The answer may seem self-evident. But patients at some hospitals may find the staff resorting to what someone might do at home in a crisis: call 911 for an ambulance.
That happened recently in Texas, where a 44-year-old man named Steve Spivey developed breathing problems after spine surgery. No physician was working there when the staff first recognized he was in trouble. They phoned 911, and he was taken to a nearby full-service hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later...

A similar case involved an 88-year-old woman two years ago at a small doctor-owned hospital in Portland, Ore., where the nurses called 911 after she was given too much pain medicine following spine surgery. She, too, later died... "


http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/02/business/02alarm.html?ref=health

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[Taurus]

Deleted.

 

[Monty Python]

"Some Hospitals Call 911 to Save Their Patients
By REED ABELSON
Should a hospital be able to handle a medical emergency?
The answer may seem self-evident. But patients at some hospitals may find the staff resorting to what someone might do at home in a crisis: call 911 for an ambulance.
That happened recently in Texas, where a 44-year-old man named Steve Spivey developed breathing problems after spine surgery. No physician was working there when the staff first recognized he was in trouble. They phoned 911, and he was taken to a nearby full-service hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later...

A similar case involved an 88-year-old woman two years ago at a small doctor-owned hospital in Portland, Ore., where the nurses called 911 after she was given too much pain medicine following spine surgery. She, too, later died... "


http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/02/business/02alarm.html?ref=health

I don't see any anesthesia reference in the article. Only that the breathing difficulties started during the night. Even if it was all-anesthesiologist service, I doubt the on-call anesthesiologist would have been in-house if the patient was on the ward.

 

[Orthonut]

Pardon me for barging in, but Mr O'nut and I live near Portland.

The case referenced in the OP about the "pain medicine OD" in the Portland hosp was I believe found to have resulted from not having any MD/DOs on the grounds all the time-not due to the anesthesia provider.

I don't think I am speaking very clearly, I'm trying not to flame anyone. But the 88 YO woman referenced in the OP had an MD/DO anesthesiologist. I haven't been back in a few months (school) so I haven't read/heard any follow up, but if you can believe what the paper printed, it sounds IMHO like poor care all 'round in her case-not XYZ fault.

Here is a link to one of the articles,http://www.wweek.com/story.php?story=6856 and a snip

Dr. XXXXX XXXXX, the anesthesiologist who treated Helen Wilson in July, ....

One of the follow up articles http://www.wweek.com/editorial/3217/7297/

 

[EtherMD]

Time to close this thread.

 

[Planktonmd]

One important thing this story brings up: The use of Dilaudid that has become so common you can hardly see a patient getting anything else Post-Op.
The problem this mdication is very powerful and the therapeutic index is very narrow but it is also marketed to physicians as being a better narcotic than the other older ones.
The other issue is the resistance of many surgeons to the use of PCA pumps and writing PRN orders of high doses of narcotics instead.

 

[Intubate]

Yeah, there's nothing about anesthesia providers in this article at all. It doesn't put the crna issue in an interesting light-- it puts greedy doctors who care more about getting the hell out of the surgery center and onto the golf course, without regard to their patients' welfare, in an interesting light.

 

[toughlife]

If there are patients in the hospital, how can there be no doc around? I am apalled that patients are left alone at their mercy. That is just poor judgement especially post-op when all kinds of complications can occur.

 

[militarymd]

If there are patients in the hospital, how can there be no doc around? I am apalled that patients are left alone at their mercy. That is just poor judgement especially post-op when all kinds of complications can occur.

Community hospital.