In this brief dialogue, Speaker A emphasizes that even if Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) stay out of advocacy, the legislative "game" continues and will affect them. Speaker A warns that physician anesthesiologists and anesthesiologist assistants will lobby legislators to protect their own interests, which may unintentionally exclude CRNA perspectives from laws governing anesthesia practice. The conversation underscores the urgency for CRNAs to actively engage with lawmakers so their voice is heard and their practice is not inadvertently carved out of future bills.
I usually say, if you're not playing the game, you're gonna get played by the game. And what I mean by that is, you know, you can choose not to be involved in advocacy, but that game is still happening whether you're involved or not.
Yeah.
Physician anesthesiologists are going to talk to legislators about the laws that govern our practice. Anesthesiologist assistants are also doing the same thing. And they're just by nature, not, not necessarily maliciously, but they are going to always look out for their own interests and not those of CRNAs. Yeah. So if you have only voices that are, um, proponents of physician anesthesiology or AA practice, you're missing that CRNA voice at the table, and legislators aren't going to know about you and are going to maybe unintentionally carve you out of bills that will govern the way that you your practice.
Uh, you know, I can speak to that actually personally. During, um, mid-year assembly this past year, going to see, uh, one of, uh, legislators that I'm, you know, a constituent in his area. And, um, we were talking. I had invited him up to the school, uh, where I teach at the University of Scranton, and we're talking about connecting. And, uh, as they're getting ready to leave, he's like, you know, it's not just about, uh, Dr. So-and-so is an anesthesiologist within my healthcare system who clearly is in his office, in his ear, and, you know, we're both sharing sides of, you know, this is what nurse anesthetists do. He's saying, you know, this is what anesthesiologists do. But to have a seat and to have a voice and to even hear him say, well, it's not just about so-and-so, it's like, oh, he's here, you know, he's in his ear, he's talking, he's talking about anesthesiologists. And that's what it's all about, right? You know, you have to have a voice, you have to speak up, and that's what advocacy is all about.
