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HAPPY
ANNIVERSARY NATIONAL ANESTHESIA!!!
Fun Facts:
Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite!
Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.
The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.
The cruise liner, QE 2, moves only six inches for each
gallon of diesel that it burns.
The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a
radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket. (Good
thing he did that.)
The winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagra Falls froze
completely solid.
There are more chickens than people in the world.
More Fun Facts:
Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.
Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
Donkeys kill more people annually than plane crashes.
Venus is the only planet that rotates clockwise.
Save yourself
time by keeping us updated with your credentials. Fax any
updated information to 248.646.0361 as soon as you receive
it or visit
www.nationalanesthesia.com
and create your online profile today! This will help in
keeping you credentialed in your current assignment or
preparing for a new one.
Quick Links
Join our mailing list!
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A Message From The President
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Spring is finally
here! If the saying "April showers bring May
flowers" is true then I should be able to
open up my own florist shop next month!
Michigan was certainly blessed with an
abundance of precipitation these past few
weeks! In the beginning of the month
temperatures were in the 40s with snow
showers. Fortunately its warming up, and
temps have recently jumped to the 50s and
60s, finally the rain has ceased and we are
looking at upper 70s and 80s with blue skies
for the next few days! Spring fever is in
the air!
Enough of my weather forecast! Let's look at
this month's newsletter. April has been a
very exciting time for National Anesthesia.
We celebrated our 20th Anniversary!!! It
seems like only yesterday when I opened the
doors to National- how time does fly. Here
we are 20 years later and we are still a
leading force in anesthesia staffing. With
vacations looming, make sure you contact us
to discuss how you will cover them. We have
people ready to work! If you are looking for
work during your time off or just looking
for a locum assignment, connect with us
today at 800-642-1999! We have positions
throughout the country.
This month in National News you will read an
article about whether or not physicians
should be specifically trained to dispense
narcotics in the article "F.D.A. Weighs
Training to Dispense Narcotics." You will
also read about the history of National
Anesthesia and our 20th Anniversary
Celebration in the article "20 Years and
Counting." In the article "Automated
Anesthesia" you will read about a machine
that automatically administers drugs to the
patient. It is amazing where technology is
going!
We would like to thank you all of you who
have gone online and registered with us. For
those of you who haven't log onto
www.nationalanesthesia.com
today and take advantage of this great
feature!
In the spirit
of our 20-year celebration, here's to all of
you and your support of National Anesthesia
Services! It is because of you and our
relationships that we continue down our
successful path! Thank You!
Stephen Read, President
National Anesthesia Services, Inc.
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Quote of the Month
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Motherhood brings
as much joy as ever, but it still brings
boredom, exhaustion, and sorrow too. Nothing
else ever will make you as happy or sad, as
proud or as tired, for nothing is quite as
hard as helping another person develop his
own individuality especially while you
struggle to keep your own.
----- Marguerite Kelly and Elia Parsons |
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F.D.A. Weighs Training to Dispense Narcotics
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Should doctors be
required to undergo special education in
order to prescribe powerful narcotics? The
Food and Drug Administration may soon
recommend that they do so, though such a
move would most likely prove controversial.
"I think it is a good idea, and it is
something we are considering," said Dr. Bob
Rappaport, the director of the division of
Anesthesia, Analgesia and Rheumatology
Products at the F.D.A. But the agency itself
does not have the authority to take such a
step, Dr. Rappaport said.
Typically, state medical boards, rather than
the federal government, impose licensing
requirements on doctors, including the type
of continuing education they must receive. A
few states, including California, now
provide doctors with education about the
treatment of pain patients. But nationally,
state medical boards have shown little
interest in mandating added training in the
use of potent pain medications or in
screening patients for those prone to drug
abuse.
Pain experts say they support increased
education for doctors, but some fear that
mandatory training may harm pain patients by
limiting the number of doctors prescribing
such drugs.
Under current federal law, doctors need only
show they are licensed to practice medicine
in order to register with the Drug
Enforcement Administration, which will
permit them to prescribe narcotics.
An exception is if a doctor wants to
prescribe the drug buprenorphine as
in-office treatment for narcotics addiction;
federal rules require eight hours of
specialized training first. Prescribing that
same drug for pain treatment, however, does
not require such training.
Dr. Rappaport said the F.D.A. was most
concerned about potent and longer-acting
narcotics like methadone, fentanyl and
certain formulations of the drug oxycodone,
the active ingredient in OxyContin.
With methadone, fentanyl, which is available
in patches, has been associated with patient
deaths and injuries resulting from physician
misprescribing or inadvertent patient
misuse.
In recent years, the F.D.A. has faced
pressure to take added steps on such drugs.
Dr. Rappaport said recommending additional
education was one of the responses the
agency might unveil by early next year.
He said the F.D.A. would probably require
that makers of such drugs develop programs
to monitor how they are prescribed.
In the last two years, the agency has sent
out alerts to doctors about both methadone
and fentanyl, but officials acknowledged
that preventable patient deaths were
continuing.
"We are putting out communications," said
Dr. Gerald Dal Pan, who directs the F.D.A.'s
office of surveillance and epidemiology. "We
don't know why they are failing."
---Barry Meier
www.nytimes.com
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20 Years and Counting...
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When Stephen Read
founded NAS in 1989, it was one of a handful
of firms who placed locum tenens CRNAs and
MDs. Founded on the principal of integrity
with a strong desire to provide excellent
customer service, National quickly gained a
national reputation for quality and service.
We have seen many changes in the industry
since 1989 and have never broken stride in
keeping pace or staying in front of the
pack!! Year after year we have remained a
leader in the anesthesia staffing industry.
In the mid 1990's, NAS focused its efforts
on government institutions, establishing
long-term contracts with the Department of
Defense. More recently, National was awarded
a contract that allows them to work at all
Veterans Affairs Medical Centers and Indian
Health Service hospitals around the United
States. We have seen changes in
compensation, malpractice, credentialing and
technology to name just a few! In the past
two years we have added a specialized
credentialing department and in 2008 we
invested in new software that better manages
our time, job process and allows for more
interactive, online interface with you.
As the years have passed and the changes
come and go, the constant that has remained
is the superior customer service and
personal experience that our account
managers support. We have surrounded
ourselves with team members who maintain the
highest standards in work ethics. Everyone
in the company from the President to our
accounting department pours their heart and
soul into their job and this is evident in
the strong and lasting relationships that
have been formed with our providers and
clients over the past 20 years.
National believes that having fun and
enjoying your job helps to promote positive
energy and attitude. Through the years we
have enjoyed a variety of team building
activities, along with our daily dose of
laughter that is spontaneously supplied by
one of our many personable employees! When
we're talking to you on the phone and it
sounds like we are smiling, we truly are!
Boat rides, Tigers game, Pirate parties and
our annual summer cookout are just a few of
our fun memories.
This month, we recognized our 20th year
milestone with a weeklong celebration!
"National Week" was celebrated with fun
surprises and team building events
throughout the week! The highlight of our
celebration was Friday evening as we toasted
our team with champagne, a beautiful dinner
and a night filled with laughter! Here's to
another 20 years of success!
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Automated Anesthesia
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An anesthesiologist's job can be taxing.
During an operation, he is responsible for
regulating the patient's levels of
consciousness, pain and muscle relaxation,
which requires monitoring vital signs and
recalibrating drug concentrations every few
minutes, sometimes over the course of
procedures that last many hours.
Now that may all change. In May, researchers
at the McGill University Health Center in
Montreal announced the creation of what they
call the world's first fully automated
anesthesia system, which has been used in 40
operations so far. Known as McSleepy (a play
on the nicknames of the characters McSteamy
and McDreamy from the television medical
drama "Grey's Anatomy"), the system
administers drugs, monitors their effects
and makes adjustments accordingly, all by
itself. Before a procedure, a surgery team
simply enters into a computer the patient's
weight and age, the level of anesthesia
desired, the type of surgery to be performed
and the medication to be given. With only
minimal oversight, McSleepy takes care of
the rest. "The system actually controls the
effect of the drugs it gives - and controls
it every minute," says one of its creators,
Thomas M. Hemmerling of McGill University.
McSleepy's limitless attention span is just
one way in which Hemmerling says the system
is making anesthesia safer for patients.
Using tiny microphones called "muscle ears,"
McSleepy also listens to the movements of
certain muscles that reflect overall
relaxation levels. These muscle "echoes,"
when combined with an automated estimate of
the physical strain the patient is
undergoing unconsciously, allow for a more
accurate (and efficient) dosing of relaxants
throughout the surgery. Hemmerling estimates
that McSleepy could cut roughly 20 to 25
percent from the total cost of anesthesia.
If McSleepy continues to perform well - an
additional 400 McSleepy-aided operations are
planned - Hemmerling says he foresees
operating rooms in which McSleepys broadcast
real-time monitoring of patients, via WiFi,
to the P.D.A.'s of anesthesiologists at last
"liberated," as he puts it, from being
confined to any single operating room.
---Jeffery
Delviscio
www.nytimes.com
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General Disclaimer:
The materials have been compiled by National
Anesthesia Services. Inc. from internal and
external sources. However, while we have
attempted to provide accurate information in
this publication, no representation is made
or warranty given as to the completeness or
accuracy of the Materials. In particular,
you should be aware that the Materials may
be incomplete, may contain errors, or may
have become out of date. You should
therefore verify information obtained from
this publication before you take any action
upon it.
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