Cardiac Anesthesiology

Started by LSUMed
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LSUMed

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How has the surge of CRNA's affected the Cardiac subspecialty of Anesthesiology? Will there be significant competition in the future between Cardiac Anesthesiologists and CRNA's? Also, how does average compensation between cardiac vs. general anesthesia compare?

Thanks
Jason
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by LSUMed:
•How has the surge of CRNA's affected the Cardiac subspecialty of Anesthesiology? Will there be significant competition in the future between Cardiac Anesthesiologists and CRNA's? Also, how does average compensation between cardiac vs. general anesthesia compare?

Thanks
Jason•••••Hey Jason,
As many bypass grafts are being done off pump, there is going to be less and less role for CRNAs and more need for the Cardio Anesthesiologist. At my hospital, no CRNA has any role in cardiac surgery anesthesia.
 
Oh no, not another us vs. them thread! 😛
 
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This isn't an "us v. them" thread. I was wondering how the surge of CRNA's will affect job openings and compensation for cardiac anesthesiologists.
 
i'm just curious, how is cardiac anesthesiology or any subspecialty of anesthesiology different from general anesthesiolgy. do the differences lie in the amount and application of anesthesia during the a certain procedure? 😕
 
So why can't CRNAs also do CABs off-pump? From what I've seen, off-pump is more difficult to manage vs. on-pump, but not that much more.

CV anesthesia rocks! More action, more excitement, lots more physiology.
 
Oh, a reply to MOZ:

Something interesting I learned just a couple of days ago that a resident told me (don't know if this is true, but seems plausible):

They actually use less anesthesia in cardiovascular vs. general cases. The reason being that inhaled anesthetics have such strong depressant effects on the heart and circulatory system, that, in these very sick patients, could be very detrimental. In fact, they use LESS inhaled anesthetic than required to produce unconsciousness! In other words, these patients may be somewhat awake during their surgeries, and the pain they feel from surgical stimulation actually serves to support their circulatory systems by increasing sympathetic outflow and maintaining blood pressure and myocardial contractility. Sounds almost inhumane, huh? But the thing is, the amount of inhaled anesthetic is enough to produce amnesia, so the patients don't remember a thing. Pretty cool.
 
CRNA's do provide anesthesia to off pump patients. Variation is between facilities. As to the use of inhalational agents, they are reduced, usually .5 MAC but, the patient should be comfortable as the anesthetic technique is high narcotic.
 
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