Past president Sandra Ouellette has asked me to post these comments for her. Please share with concerned AANA members, leadership and business meeting attendees. jh Dear CRNA Colleagues: My name is Sandra Maree Ouellette CRNA,MEd, FAAN. I am past president of the AANA and served three, two-year terms as President of the International Federation of Nurse Anesthetists. I was a member of the first Council on Recertification and am a proud cosponsor of the proposed AANA bylaw amendments. I therefore am among the “small group of sponsors” referenced in the communication to AANA State Presidents by the NBCRNA. You have seen that thirteen of the fourteen signatures on these bylaw amendments are from AANA Past Presidents. This “small group of sponsors” led this profession for over 40 years and in most cases have made professional leadership and service a life-long mission. It is disappointing to me that any CRNA or member of NBCRNA would believe there are personal motives behind support of these bylaw amendments or would infer that any of us would do anything that was not in the best interest of you, the members of AANA. As you know, the NBCRNA is an important body to you in that without certification and recertification, you cannot work. Reimbursement, at least at the federal level, is tied to recertification. For many years, there was close association between the AANA Continuing Education Committee and the Council on Recertification as defined in the AANA Bylaws. This created a healthy environment where the Council was autonomous in decision-making but did have input from you, the member, through the appointed committee of the AANA. All was well during that time in that standards set by the profession and criteria upon which members would be recertified, were openly communicated between the AANA and Councils. In recent years it appears to me that this free exchange of information and even trust between the two entities has been lost. I therefore believe that your most precious asset, the CRNA credential, is in jeopardy as it may in the future be dictated by a self-elected board of eleven with no voice from you through AANA. The NBCRNA is a body of 11 individuals consisting of CRNA’s, an anesthesiologist, and public members. They are self-selected and self-appointed with no input from the profession as to which CRNA will be placed on the NBCRNA. As such, they are accountable to no one except the external agencies (National Commission for Certifying Agencies and Accreditation Board for Specialty Nursing Certification) that recognize them, and they can change requirements for recertification at any time without a voice from the members they recertify. Such was the case when the new CPC process was announced to the members fifteen minutes before the AANA annual business meeting a couple years ago. You were caught by surprise, as was AANA leadership, as there had been no major discussion of this change. This created a storm of protest from CRNAs and since that time AANA has attempted to work with NBCRNA. In spite of the best efforts by those we elect to be our voice, negotiations don’t seem to be going well as evidenced by the UNANNOUNCED move of NBCRNA from AANA headquarters in September 2012. It will be argued that at the present time, the Chairperson of the AANA Continuing Education Committee and AANA-recommended individuals serve on each of four NBCRNA subcommittees. These subcommittees are charged to work out the details for CPC. While AANA had some input in a member being seated on each subcommittee, please remember subcommittees are generally short-term committees organized for a specific purpose, and when the goal is met, are disbanded. These individuals have been required to sign confidentiality agreements with NBCRNA. AANA needs to have continuous appointees on NBCRNA, never in the majority, but with continuous communication with AANA and with freedom to discuss most issues addressed by NBCRNA with AANA; the voice of the profession. That is the situation with many organizations and credentialing bodies and will only work long term if this is our model. I believe this bylaw is needed to create a pathway to restore rightful checks and balances between the NBCRNA and the AANA; the voice of the members. The AANA is the standard-setting body of the profession. The NBCRNA has a very narrowly defined role DELEGATED to them by the profession and their authority is not self-ordained. It seems to me by recent actions taken, that the NBCRNA is much like an island unto itself. In order to restore balance, the bridge must be restored between AANA and NBCRNA which will reestablish a healthy environment for the future of the profession. These bylaw changes, if adopted, will enable the AANA Board of Directors to establish a formal process to assure that the needs of the profession and the public will be served by the respective AANA recognized accreditation and credentialing organizations. I believe passage of this bylaw will reflect a member mandate for correction of what I see as system that is currently broken. I ask for your vote in support of this bylaw amendment. Sandra Ouellette CRNA President AANA 1988-1989 President IFNA 2004-2010
Posted on: Sun, 21 Jul 2013 15:08:29 +0000
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