About Health & Wellness

Professional self-care is influenced by the ability of practitioners to manage their lifestyles and happiness through personal choices and behaviors. CRNAs and students have the responsibility, accountability, and competence to make positive choices and improve their physical, mental and spiritual well-being.

This section offers education and resources intended to reduce risk factors (such as the occupational risk for substance use disorder (SUD)), workplace and personal stress, and other physical and mental disorders) and improve health and fitness.

We strive to address wellness factors in a manner that promotes a balanced and fulfilling personal and professional life; topics include:

• SUD
• Emotional and Mental Well-Being
• Physical Well-Being
• Social Responsibility
• State Health and Wellness Resources and Toolkit
• Student Wellness
• Wellness Education and Research
• Workplace Wellness

The AANA Health and Wellness Committee designs, implements, and monitors the program.

The AANA recognizes that anesthesia providers, because of their exposure and the nature of their work, face a high occupational risk for SUD.

AANA Peer Assistance offers information and assistance for CRNAs and student nurse anesthetists for SUD and for getting help. The peer support network provides advocacy and advice to the association members and the public on issues regarding practitioner well-being as it pertains to nurse anesthetists’ and students’ risk for drug use, abuse, dependency, and addiction.

The work is committed to educational endeavors and aggressive promotion of prevention modalities. Members of the Peer Assistance Advisors Committee offer confidential assistance, informational support and referral resources in the formulation of guidelines for early recognition, intervention, treatment, long-term recovery, and appropriate re-entry. For more information  see History of AANA Peer Assistance.

The AANA Ad Hoc Committee on Chemical Dependency, appointed in 1983, has since grown and expanded into today's Peer Assistance Advisors Committee.

The AANA Wellness Program - now known as the AANA Health and Wellness Program - began in 2004 with the objectives of developing and implementing functional strategies encompassing health promotion and the elements of wellness, balance, and self-care

Working together on key issues of education for the prevention of occupational risk of SUD and addressing the importance of personal health lifestyles for anesthesia professionals, the two groups collaborate as AANA Health and Wellness. 

See also Wellness Milestones articles:

• Moving Forward by Looking Back, July 2014
• Reflections on Health and Wellness, November 2015