• In 1984 only 400,000 surgeries were performed annually in an outpatient setting; that figure rose to 8.3 million in 2000, according to the Nashville Academy of Medicine.
  
  
• According to an article published by the American Academy of Dermatology Association, approximately 82 percent of all surgical procedures are performed in an outpatient setting, with a significant number of those surgeries performed in offices.
  
  
• According to the Nashville Academy of Medicine, approximately 65 percent of all surgeries do not require a hospital stay.
  
  
• Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) are anesthesia professionals who are the hands-on providers of approximately 32 million anesthetics given in the United States.
  
  
• According to a 2001 study conducted by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, 56.5 percent of plastic surgeons use CRNAs to administer anesthesia care in an office setting.
  
  
• The first and most comprehensive “Standards for Office Based Anesthesia Practice” were developed by the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists and adopted in 1999.
  
  
• According to a 1999 report from the Institute of Medicine, anesthesia care today is nearly 50 times safer than it was 20 years ago.
  
  
• Emergency equipment and anesthesia monitoring devices in office facilities should be equivalent to those that would be necessary for the same surgical procedures performed in a hospital or freestanding ambulatory surgery center.
  
  
• CRNAs practice in every setting in which anesthesia is delivered: traditional hospital surgical suites and obstetrical delivery rooms; critical access hospitals; ambulatory surgical centers; the offices of dentists, podiatrists, pain management specialists, plastic surgeons; and the U.S. Military, Public Health Services, and Department of Veterans Affairs healthcare facilities.

Brochures and Resources