Perspectives Winter/Spring 2018

20 Nova Southeastern University Anesthesiologist Assistant Fort Lauderdale Practically Practicing: Increasing Advocacy Among AAs By Edward Bolaños, M.H.Sc., CAA, Assistant Professor and FAAA President AS THE NUMBER of anesthesiologist assistants (AA) in Florida continues to grow, it is imperative that the profession’s resources parallel the demand. As such, the organization known as the Florida Academy of Anesthesiologist Assistants (FAAA) evolved. Established in 2009 as a charter under the national organi- zation for AAs—the American Academy of Anesthesiologist Assistants—the FAAA consisted of nothing more than a few members. The FAAA is similar to many other professional organizations in that it developed from a need for a focused, state-orientated group of leaders willing to advocate and advance the profession. There are approximately 350 Certified Anesthesiologist Assistants (CAA) practicing in Florida, with about 50 percent of them serving as organizational members. Additionally, the FAAA has great support, which stems from the students in NSU’s AA programs. NSU AA students have maintained 100 percent membership from both the Fort Lauderdale/Davie and Tampa campuses for two consecutive years. This statistic highlights the impor- tance of initiating professional citizenship in a person’s field of practice early on in his or her education and training. Promoting the goal of professional citizenship is more important now than ever before. As the AA profession is becoming more visible within the medical community in Florida, the need to advocate and promote safe practice increases. Starting students on an early path is essentially the key to sustaining the college’s goal of promoting tomorrow’s prominent leaders. As a new chapter in the evolving growth of the FAAA, each NSU campus now has a student representative. The newly elected class of 2019 student representatives are Nastassia Baltodano (AA Fort Lauderdale) and Andrea Combrink (AA Tampa). The purpose of adding these student leaders is to disseminate information more directly to the student population, as well as to create an environment that promotes advocacy. In recent years, there has been an insufficient amount of advocacy from AA community members. Being such a young profession in Florida, anesthesiologist assistants were not widely known across the state. These reasons led to a decrease in awareness of the profession and an increase in misinformation circulating throughout the state. Moreover, it is the mission of the FAAA to not only advance the profession, but also promote safe and quality health care through the physician-led anesthesia care team model. This model is the manner in which anesthesiologist assistants practice under direct medical supervision of a physician anesthesiologist. Because the FAAA is still in its early stages, grassroots methods of advocacy and lobbying are most effective. This, however, does not deter progress. Recently, the FAAA achieved its greatest accomplishment yet.