American Academy of Anesthesiologist Assistants

Five Facts About AAs

AAs are a veteran health care provider.
Anesthesiologist assistants (AAs) have been working as part of the anesthesia care team for more than 30 years. AAs work under the supervision of an anesthesiologist, who is a physician. Together they form the anesthesia care team, proven to be the safest method of anesthesia delivery.
AAs have long been recognized for their impeccable safety records. A recently-concluded four year data review at the University Hospitals in Cleveland, Ohio, comparing the safety records of AAs and Certified Registered Nurse Anesthestists (CRNAs) concluded that the two are on equal footing, saying, "Complication rates were no higher for AAs than CRNAs." The Medical Center conducted the research over four years (1999 - 2003) and measured more than 46 thousand cases involving AAs and CRNAs (23,000 cases each). This was an unbiased comparison because the medical center trains both AAs and CRNAs.
The Highest Educational Standards:
The training of an anesthesiologist assistant combines a premedical curriculum with an intense masters degree training program, at two of the nation's most prestigious medical centers, Emory University in Atlanta and Case Western Reserve in Cleveland. This training includes a minimum of 2500 clinical hours (hands-on training) to produce the most competent, highly-trained, anesthetist practitioner, well above the standards for other well-trained non-physician anesthesia providers.
AAs currently work in seventeen (17) states.
The states in which AAs work by a license, regulation, and/or certification are:
Alabama
Florida
Georgia
Kentucky
Missouri
New Mexico (university hospital settings)
Ohio
South Carolina
Vermont
North Carolina

The states in which AAs are granted practice privilege through physician delegation (meaning the anesthesiologist can delegate specific anesthesia tasks to an AA):
Colorado
District of Columbia
Michigan
New Hampshire
Texas
West Virginia
Wisconsin
The federal government recognizes and uses AAs.
Both the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs authorize the use of anesthesiologist assistants to practice under the TRICARE insurance program.

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