About

CRNAs of Arizona PAC is committed to advocating for Certified Registered Nurse Anesthesiologists with the Arizona state legislature. The PAC pools contributions from CRNAs and friends of CRNAs. The PAC gives CRNAs in Arizona a voice with the state legislature.  A strong, well-funded PAC will help maintain and advance the practice rights of CRNAs, and ensure access to quality health care for the citizens of Arizona.

Currently, in conjunction with the Arizona Action Coalition, the Arizona Nurses Association, other APRN organizations, and a variety of other healthcare organizations - we are working on a bill to be presented to the legislature called the Consensus Model.  It is essentially the single most important piece of legislation we, as CRNAs, have ever worked on.  The Consensus Model provides guidance for states to adopt uniformity in the regulation of APRN roles, specifically:

  • State recognition of each of the four described roles

  • Title of APRN in one of the four described roles

  • Licensure as an RN and as an APRN in one of the four described roles

  • Graduate or post graduate education from an accredited program

  • Certification at advanced level from an accredited program that is maintained

  • Full practice authority 

  • Prescription rights

Our decision to move towards the APRN consensus model is not to have a 'turf battle' or to focus solely on the age-old 'scope of practice' issues. 

Rather, we want CRNAs to be a positive contributor to healthcare reform in Arizona.  In accordance with the Institute of Medicine and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, we believe CRNAs can be a part of effectively reforming our healthcare system.  RWJF and IOM collaborated in their report The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health.  They developed these key messages:

  • Nurses should practice to the full extent of their education and training.

  • Nurses should achieve higher levels of education and training through an improved education system that promotes seamless academic progression.

  • Nurses should be full partners, with physicians and other health care professionals, in redesigning health care in the United States.

CRNAs of AZ PAC supports this vision of a less-regulated, more seamless healthcare system, and we are working towards that end by supporting passage of the Consensus Model in Arizona.  We hope you'll join us.