VTANA report on the annual AANA Meeting in San Diego

Another successful AANA Annual meeting was held in San Diego and what a great meeting it was. The weather was fantastic the whole week and certainly lived up to the stereotypical southern California weather. Along with all of the usual CEU lectures, the networking and social events were a grand way to spend the week while soaking up the sun.

The Annual Business Meeting was held on Friday. A quorum was met with over 480 CRNAs attending. President Jackie Rowles announced that over 1000 SRNAs had registered for the Annual Meeting. That is the highest number of students ever. There were no resolutions to vote on other than a resolution submitted as an emergency resolution. That resolution was brought forward to address the fact that some 15 past resolutions voted for by the AANA members as far back as 1976 had yet to be acted upon. Ms. Rowles stated during her opening statement that the AANA Board had become aware of this issue and apologized for the oversight and directed the Board to act and correct the deficiencies. We then voted to decide if the resolution brought before the members warranted classification as an emergency and the resolution was voted down by one vote. We were assured that the AANA would report on the status of the 15 resolutions once their investigation was complete.

The Opening Ceremonies were full of their usual pomp and circumstance. It was fun seeing all of the past Presidents. It made me think about who was President when I entered anesthesia 16 years ago and what was going on in my world at the time.

On a sad note, there was a tribute to 95 CRNAs who passed away this last year. A video on John Garde, CRNA and past AANA Executive Director was shown which was very well done and at the closing ceremonies was a video featuring Jack Neary, CRNA and all that he has contributed to the advancement of chronic pain management by CRNAs. Jack passed away this last January.

While CE lectures are often boring, many of these actually held my interest. Believe it or not, there is new information out there that has impact on anesthesia practice. Some of the speakers were actually downright funny to listen to. One in particular had the whole audience belly laughing. He was a real hoot.

As most of you should know by now, California became the 15th state to opt-out of the CMS physician supervision requirement in June. This is another example of recognizing the quality of care CRNAs give to their patients every day without the useless and expensive need to practice in a supervised environment.

There was also time to sample the San Diego surroundings. I went on a tour of the Taylor Guitar Factory in El Cajon a few miles up the road. Since I play a Taylor, I had to go and pay homage to those quality luthiers.

Coming up is the Fall Assembly of States in Tucson, Arizona. It was announced that the last FAS will be held in 2011. If you have not been to a Fall Assembly, you might consider attending this one. I hope more CRNAs from Vermont get involved in both State and National functions. There is truth to the saying that if we don’t take care of our profession, someone else will. I toss the challenge out once more for each and every one of you to get involved.

Finally, the 2010 AANA Board of Directors and the new AANA President, Jim Walker, CRNA took the helm. I look forward to working with them in my capacity as a member of the AANA Government Relations Committee.

Until next time,

Mark Green, CRNA, MSN
President-elect

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