MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- The Minnesota Association of Nurse Anesthetists (MANA) presented its 2004 Alice Magaw Patient Protection Award to the Minnesota Hospital Association (MHA) for the MHA’s contributions to the advancement of the nurse anesthesia profession and patient care.
“MANA is deeply grateful for the MHA’s tireless and generous efforts in support of retaining the opt-out rule in Minnesota,” said Linda Huber, MANA president. Huber presented the award to MHA president Bruce Rueben during MANA’s annual business meeting this month in Minneapolis.
“Because of the MHA’s efforts, nurse anesthetists can continue to work within their full scope of practice, thus protecting patient access to safe and affordable health care in hospitals and clinics throughout the state, particularly in areas outside of the Twin Cities,” she said.
During late 2003 and January 2004, MHA officials worked extensively with MANA to educate state policymakers about the benefits of the opt-out provision. These efforts culminated in a hearing last February before the state house Health and Human Services Policy Committee, where the MHA and some of its member hospital administrators testified in support of the opt-out provision. The administrators argued that repealing the opt-out would impair the ability of rural hospitals to make safe and effective health care accessible to patients in Greater Minnesota.
MHA President Rueben said he was pleased to accept the award, and credited the efforts of his staff and other opt-out supporters including State Health Commissioner Dianne Mandernach and the Minnesota Nurses Association.
“We have to remain vigilant, because we know efforts to repeal the opt-out will come back,” he told nurse anesthetists in the audience. “But the Minnesota Hospital Association is one hundred percent behind you.”
The Alice Magaw Patient Protection Award is named after nurse Alice Magaw who introduced new anesthesia techniques at the Mayo Clinic more than 100 years ago. Her techniques modernized anesthesia and made its delivery considerably safer that it had ever been before. Magaw documented 14,000 anesthetics that were delivered without a fatality, an almost unheard of statistic at the turn of the last century. Her surgeon, Dr. Charles Mayo, dubbed her the ‘mother of anesthesia’ for her efforts.
About the Minnesota Association of Nurse Anesthetists
MANA represents about 1,100 certified registered nurse anesthetists in Minnesota, and is part of the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA). In Minnesota, nurse anesthetists provide 70 percent of all anesthesia care. In addition, nurse anesthetists have been the principal anesthesia providers in combat areas in every war in which the United States has been engaged since World War I. The profession received its start in the United States at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., more than 100 years ago.
Nurse anesthetists meet, by far, the most stringent continuing education and re-certification requirements in the country for providing anesthesia care. In addition to being licensed as a registered nurse, they must complete a postgraduate degree program in anesthesia and earn national certification to practice.
For more information about nurse anesthetists, visit MANA’s website at http://www.mnana.org/ or the website of the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists at http://www.aana.com/ .
About the Minnesota Hospital Association
As defined by its mission, the MHA is a trade association representing Minnesota’s 138 hospitals and 19 health systems, and is governed by a 30- person board of directors, including many of Minnesota’s top health care and community leaders. Its core functions cover the following areas: advocacy and representation, communications and member relations, education, data information services, general counsel, labor relations, patient safety, trustee services, and workforce. For more information, visit the MHA website at http://www.mnhospitals.org/ .
Minnesota Association of Nurse Anesthetists
CONTACT: Marc Kessler for Minnesota Association of Nurse Anesthetists,+1-651-690-0897