SENATE MEMORIAL

55th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2022

INTRODUCED BY

Martin Hickey

 

 

 

 

 

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE GOVERNOR TO DECLARE THE SECOND WEEK OF JUNE AS "CERTIFIED ANESTHESIOLOGIST ASSISTANTS WEEK" TO RECOGNIZE CERTIFIED ANESTHESIOLOGIST ASSISTANTS AS HIGHLY SKILLED HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS, ACKNOWLEDGE THE EDUCATIONAL AND PROFESSIONAL TRAINING THAT CERTIFIED ANESTHESIOLOGIST ASSISTANTS ARE REQUIRED TO ATTAIN AND ACKNOWLEDGE THE CRUCIAL ROLE OF CERTIFIED ANESTHESIOLOGIST ASSISTANTS IN THE DELIVERY OF HEALTH CARE SERVICES.

 

     WHEREAS, in the early 1960s, leaders in the medical specialty of anesthesiology recognized staffing shortages, and to meet growing demands and accommodate the increasing complexity of anesthesia and surgery, three anesthesiologists proposed the precursor to what is now known as the certified anesthesiologist assistant; and

     WHEREAS, certified anesthesiologist assistants are highly skilled health care professionals who work under the direction of licensed physician anesthesiologists to implement anesthesia care plans and work exclusively within the anesthesia care team model as described by the American society of anesthesiologists; and

     WHEREAS, all certified anesthesiologist assistant students must have earned a baccalaureate degree with pre-medical coursework and complete a graduate-level, comprehensive, didactic clinical program; and

     WHEREAS, certified anesthesiologist assistant training must include a minimum of twenty-four to twenty-eight months in a master's-level program accredited by the commission on accreditation of allied health education programs and must be based at, or offered in collaboration with, a university that has a medical school and academic anesthesiologist physician faculty; and  

     WHEREAS, an average of six hundred hours of classroom and laboratory education, two thousand six hundred hours of clinical anesthesia education and the administration of more than six hundred anesthetics for various types of surgeries are typically required to successfully complete certified anesthesiologist assistant training; and

     WHEREAS, certified anesthesiologist assistants are trained extensively in the delivery and maintenance of quality anesthesia care as well as advanced patient monitoring techniques, and certified anesthesiologist assistants perform such tasks as administering drugs, obtaining vascular access, applying and interpreting monitors, establishing and maintaining patient airways and assisting with preoperative assessments;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the governor be requested to declare June 6 through June 12, 2022 as "Certified Anesthesiologist Assistants Week" in New Mexico; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the members of the legislative health and human services committee and the New Mexico academy of anesthesiologist assistants.

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