January 18, 2008

Nurse anesthetists help patients feel no pain

MGH nurse anesthetists

It was a moment that changed the world of medicine forever — on Oct. 16, 1846, Boston dentist William T.G. Morton successfully administered anesthetic ether during surgery, allowing MGH physician John Collins Warren, MD, to remove a tumor from patient Gilbert Abbott in the first pain-free procedure. Not only did this discovery create a revolutionary new field of medicine, but it also laid the foundation for a new practice in nursing — nurse anesthesia. During National Nurse Anesthetists Week Jan. 20 through 26, the MGH is recognizing the modern practice of nurse anesthesia, celebrating the dedication of the MGH's certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs).

At the MGH, CRNAs work in collaboration with anesthesiologists to provide both general and regional anesthesia in the medical and surgical fields of general medicine, trauma, cardiac, thoracic, vascular, neurology, pediatrics, orthopaedics, plastics, oral and maxillofacial, burns, obstetrics and gynecology, urology, gastroenterology, radiation oncology and radiology. CRNAs undergo extensive training in order to practice as nurse anesthetists. They must possess a master's degree in science or nursing, which require candidates have past intensive care unit experience. MGH CRNAs handle a full load of patient care — in addition to treating patients at the MGH, the hospital's 18 CRNAs also provide anesthesia services to patients at Shriners Hospital, McLean Hospital, Somerville Hospital and Cambridge City Hospital. In 2007, they provided approximately 8,000 anesthetics to patients at these locations and the MGH.

For more information about nurse anesthesia at the MGH, contact Darryl DuVall, CRNA, MS, chief nurse anesthetist, at dduvall@partners.org.