On Tuesday, Feb. 18th, 2025, about 100 Augusta University Student Registered Nursing Anesthetists (SRNA) visited the Georgia Capitol to push for changes in health policy to allow them to operate without physician oversight in certain settings like rural hospitals and delivery units. The goal is to make anesthesia services more accessible to patients.
SRNAs train to provide anesthesia during surgeries. They often work without a doctor directly supervising them.
The Augusta University students are asking the General Assembly to pass a law providing CRNAs the authority to practice which, in turn, could reduce patient delays in critical procedures especially in rural hospitals. They spoke with members of the state House of Representative as part of a national, coordinated movement to increase medical services to rural counties across the country.
At the federal level, more than 160 health care organizations including the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology support The ICAN Act. The law would provide Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNA) the ability to work without a physician’s authority when providing Medicare-based life-saving care and pain management. This often includes anesthesia during surgery, and epidurals for women when giving birth.
The state and federal legislative proposals would explicitly help women who are pregnant in rural areas, where epidurals are often administered during childbirth. Augusta University SRNA student Grace Veten said this issue is personal for her.
“I’m from a small, southern, rural town and my cousin, who lives in Alma, Georgia, has delivered all her children in Wayne County,” she said. “She’s pregnant again with twins, and that hospital in Wayne County recently shut down their OB department, which means that she’s now having to find a new doctor for this pregnancy and actually has to drive over an hour to receive OB services.”
There are 30 hospitals in rural Georgia with 18 of them at risk of closure, leading to lapses in essential care. In 2023 10 rural hospitals closed in the state. According to the National Library of Medicine, rural areas have a higher likelihood of illness and mortality. The number of available physicians, nurses, and medical staff are fewer compared to urban areas. The Georgia numbers follow a similar pattern developing in a majority of states east of the Mississippi River.
Austin Hermen, a SRNA at Augusta University, said he is worried about a deficit in anesthesia providers who can treat mothers and families.
“Being from a small town, there’s limited access, hospitals that had to close, and due to that closure it could’ve been prevented with this bill. Access to labor and delivery, especially with anesthesia providers, would allow more CRNAs to work in those rural hospitals more independent,” Hermen said.
Hermen clarified the importance of having more CRNAs in rural Georgia. “If you’re having surgeries, it’s with CRNAs who put you to sleep and provide care, and with this bill, it would allow us to be more widespread in rural areas without supervision,” he said.
Classmate Jenny Freeman explained the critical role of nurse anesthetists in operating room.
“A lot of times, that supervisor or that physician is not an anesthesia provider. A lot of times, that physician is usually an ER physician or an OB physician, and those physicians usually don’t know exactly what Anesthesia does, so it’s more of a liability for them to be the supervising physician.”
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