anesthesia assistant

[toco]

Hello everyone,

I recently discovered the anesthesia assistant profession, and was wondering if anybody knew anything about it. I have visited a couple of websites, asa, and found that only two programs exist. They seem to have an interesting job, and was hoping somebody could lend some insight. What are the differences between an aa and a pa, in terms of autonomy, responsibility, respect? Are there hours of work comparable, is their educational program more rigorous and harder to be accepted? Thank you for any help.

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[deleted6669]

AA's are not pa's. they are basically crna's who were never nurses. they practice only anesthesia.currently they are licensed in only 15 states but will probably become more prominent in the next few years as several new programs coming on line soon.

 

[augmel]

hey emedpa,
how would i find out about new AA programs coming up? i can't find out anything other than the CWRU and Emory programs.

also, where are you at on the pre-med road? i've followed your posts for a while and am just curious.

good luck.

 

[deleted6669]

THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ANESTHESIA ASSISTANTS HAS A WEB PAGE WITH INFO ON THE PROFESSION, THERE IS A LINK FROM THE CASE WESTERN SITE.
I STILL NEED TO TAKE O-CHEM AND MCATS, THEN I'M GOLDEN. PROBABLY GOING TO GO D.O. IF I CAN CONVINCE MY WIFE TO MOVE, OTHERWISE MY STATE MED SCHOOL(MD).

 

[augmel]

still couldn't find anything out about new aa programs, but oh well.

so why the DO route? your state school is a pretty darn good one. do i remember correctly that you already work there?

 

[Wifty]

Originally posted by emedpa
PROBABLY GOING TO GO D.O. IF I CAN CONVINCE MY WIFE TO MOVE, OTHERWISE MY STATE MED SCHOOL(MD).

Hey emedpa,

Hubby and I are from Seattle area and had to really decide tween staying and going to the U or the D.O. route. He decided that that was what he really wanted and since the whole process is long and expensive, we decided that its best to be what you really want to be at the end of it. So, he didn't even apply to any MD (although he had the scores and extras to have easily gotten him in).

He got accepted to KCOM and even though it is very different then living in the PNW, it is interesting and fun. It is an awesome school and we are totally happy with deciding to come here. He has already had the oppurtunity to do patient care (school physicals....its a start!) and will do even more this quarter.

If you or your wife have any questions.....let me know and/or I can put you in touch with hubby! Good luck!

Wifty aka Rebecca
[email protected]

 

[augmel]

hi all,
i'm really curious about the desire to travel long distances for DO rather than go MD. i have met several great DO's and i have complete respect for them. if OMM is important to you then it is an easy choice, but otherwise, i don't think there is any difference anymore.
the AOA would have you believe that osteopaths are the only docs who care about "the whole person" but that is just not true. the uw, where i am, probably scares some off by it's interview process, but it has some of the most caring and dedicated docs around teaching clinical medicine. our new college system has me learning at the bedside in the second year with a doc who is second to none to taking care of all the needs possible for some pretty wrecked folks.
as far as early clinical experiences, i spent my second quarter intubating patients in the or and my first summer in a small town seeing patients all day for a month. this year is even better.
i looked into DO school seriously too, and if there were some closer, i would have looked more seriously. but uw and ohsu are both progressive, open minded places, so why transplant my family to socal, arizona, or the midwest? my classmates are mostly idealistic and totally open to alternative therapies. some are even practitioners.
i'm glad you two are happy, wifty, i'm mostly just curious why people would go to great lengths to go DO rather than MD. especially on the west coast, where DO's are more rare and the MD's aren't quite as uptight. is it the OMM or have people bought into the rhetoric that you have to be a DO to really care about your patients? or am i missing something else?

 

[AthensfromCols]

As a future DO, I can tell you that decision to become a DO versus an MD is much more than just "do OMM or don't do OMM". There really IS a difference in the way we are being taught versus students who are attending the allopathic schools are being taught.

I don't believe that DOs are the only ones who are good to or with patients either, but it comes much more naturally when it's instilled in you from day 1 of medical school.

By the way... OMM is the most awesome tool and that alone would be enough to travel to a DO school and transplant a family, in my opinion.

 

[lamyers1]

Although I'm a MS1, one of my best friends is at Emory right now in that program. There are 27 in his class and he is going through much, much more than we do. First, his interview was holy hell. They drilled him about physics, anatomy, and get this, cockroach physiology. I'm not kidding! He said it was total stress interview. I guess it was all about seeing who could handle it. It is very competitive. I think several thousand applied (don't quote me) and there are only 30 spots.

The program is reported to place quite a bit of respect for the graduating PA's. They supposedly start at low end physicians' salaries, but then many CRNA's make that too.

My friend took gross (with med students) plus 11 other classes during the summer. The group he is with is full of totally serious gunners and he has to work way harder than we do to stay at the top! On the other hand, my class would rather party. He is in clinicals already and he says although he is tired, he loves it. btw, he turned down med schools to do this program. There's got to be more info out there...good luck!

 

[DoctorWannaBe]

I'm not sure if this is the same career as an AA, but my aunt and uncle are Nurse Anesthetists. They were RN's before, and went back for graduate degrees in an anesthesiology program. They do what an anesthesiologist would do, but are not trained to handle complex cases. It sounds like a great job for someone who wants to work in surgery/anesthesiology without going to medical school. The salary isn't bad either. They are making about $250,000 between them and work for a traveling nurse company. They are only 35 and already own a retirement home on the beach in Florida. I'm not sure how typical this salary is.

 

[meandragonbrett]

Nurse anesthetists are not the same as AAs. They are similar but not exactly the same.

 

[mcfarlar]

Here is the website re: AA's

As far as I know, there are only two programs. Most of the "non 15" states will license AA's under a "PA" license, eventhough they are not PAs.

http://www.anesthetist.org/