National Nurse Anesthetists (CRNA) Week
National Nurse Anesthetists (CRNA) Week
January 19-25 is National Nurse Anesthetists Week. Pictured below are the two nurse anesthetists who work full-time at Veterans Memorial Hospital, including William “Skip” Loebig, CRNA, and Mark Bishop, CRNA. Whenever anesthesia is delivered by a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA), the patient is in the care of a healthcare professional who is in charge of providing a thorough and safe anesthetic from pre-op through post-op.
For more than a century, CRNAs have been staying with patients throughout their procedures, monitoring their vital signs and adjusting their anesthetics to ensure the safest, most comfortable anesthesia experience possible.
Skip and Mark oversee all of the procedures performed in the Veterans Memorial Hospital surgery suite. They carefully review the medical history of each patient and decide the best type of anesthesia medications to safely keep patients pain-free during their surgery, while constantly monitoring every biological function of the body.
Not all of their work takes place in the surgery suite. They are both also ‘on-call’ 24 hours a day, one month at a time, for any emergencies they are needed to assist with and any C-sections that may occur.
Skip is pictured here by the anesthesia machine. He explains, “In 2007 I made the move to Waukon and began offering anesthesia services, developing a strong connection with the community and maintaining a commitment to providing outstanding patient care. It has been 17 years and my commitment is still strong.”
Mark, pictured using the machine in the surgery suite, joined this practice in 2017 and states, “After providing active duty anesthesia for approximately a decade, I felt my calling was to provide my services to a critical access hospital. I enjoy the patient population tremendously and it feels fantastic taking care of neighbors and all the local families.”
CRNAs must be registered nurses before continuing their education to become a CRNA. Typically nurses need experience as a nurse in an intensive care unit before attending an accredited nurse anesthesia program. It typically takes from 7 to 10 years for this degree to be achieved.
For more information about the nurse anesthetist career, visit www.aana.com or call the anesthetists at Veterans Memorial Hospital at 568-3411.
