Nurses rally at legislature in Phoenix, seek more power [AZ]
Posted over 9 years ago by Nicholas M Perrino
"Over 200 Arizona nurses gathered at the state Capitol on Monday morning for a legislative committee hearing on allowing nurses to administer anesthesia and write prescriptions without permission from a physician or surgeon.
Ali Baghai, president of the Arizona Association of Nurse Anesthetists, called for the Legislature to 'increase access to high-quality, safe anesthesia care.'
Nurses currently can provide such services only under the supervision or recommendation of a physician.
Baghai said the association had received nearly 700 letters of support for prescriptive authority and the removal of the words 'direction and presence' from the statute regarding administration of anesthesia.
Under the nurses' proposal, certified registered nurse anesthetists would be allowed to administer anesthesia without a licensed physician or surgeon being present.
Prescriptive authority would allow such certified practitioners, for example, to give a patient with nausea a prescription for medication the night before a surgery without first receiving approval from the surgeon.
The nurses association called the change 'long overdue' and 'common-sense legislation.'
Rachel Behrendt, the chief nursing officer for Banner University Medical Center, said the changes would allow nurses to practice at the 'full extent of their license.'"