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Hire "anesthesiologist assistants" to help alleviate the shortage of professionals who are qualified to administer anesthesia to hospital patients. That’s the approach that hospitals in Washington, D.C., may take if the city council has its way.

Patient Safety Monitor Alert, June 1, 2004

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Hire "anesthesiologist assistants" to help alleviate the shortage of professionals who are qualified to administer anesthesia to hospital patients. That's the approach that hospitals in Washington, D.C., may take if the city council has its way.

The District of Columbia is plagued by problem common in many hospitals: there are not enough anesthesiologists to go around in hospital operating rooms. As a result, hospitals often have to reschedule non-emergency surgery and decrease their emergency room hours. The D.C. City Council's Committee on Human Services wants to change this by pushing a measure that would license "anesthesiologist assistants."

Healthcare professionals are divided over the proposal, however. The D.C. Association of Nurse Anesthetists thinks the bill would make licensure too easy, enabling less qualified and experienced anesthesiologist assistants to place patients at risk in an operating room, according to The Common Denominator, a local newspaper.

Instead, the group wants the District to follow the lead of other states, which require anesthesiologist assistants to first become licensed as physician assistants. Only 16 states are believed to currently license anesthesiologist assistants, the newspaper reports.

Supporters of the licensing bill, including local associations of hospitals and anesthesiologists, accuse naysayers of blowing the threat out of proportion, since anesthesiologist assistants already work in hospitals. They argue that the assistants would require graduate-level coursework and extensive clinical training in anesthesiology.

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