Horizon Health Honors Its Nurse Anesthetists

Horizon Health recognizes the quality work of its Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) during the 21st annual National CRNA Week, January 24-30.

National CRNA Week was established by the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) and is recognized the last full week in January. The AANA represents nearly 57,000 CRNAs and student registered nurse anesthetists nationwide, and promotes education, practice standards, and guidelines for the profession.

CRNAs are advanced practice nurses with graduate-level education in anesthesiology. They safely administer more than 49 million anesthetics to Americans each year. They are the primary providers of anesthesia in rural communities like Horizon Health.

At Horizon Health, five CRNAs provide anesthesia services to surgical patients. They are: Lovie Cotton,  APRN, CRNA; Erin Hein, APRN, CRNA; Kenneth Grigsby, APRN, CRNA, DNP; Adam Schneider, APRN, CRNA, NSPM-C, DNP; and Scott Williamson, APRN, CRNA, manager of anesthesia services. The team also runs Horizon Health’s Pain Management Clinic, where they use many different approaches, ranging from ultrasound to physical therapy to manage pain.

CRNA Training Site

In 2018, Horizon Health was named a clinical training site for anesthesia providers pursuing advanced education in managing acute surgical pain. Horizon Health was one of only three locations in the country to be designated as a clinical training site for the Acute Surgical Pain Management Fellowship, a nationally accredited program for experienced Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists through the American Academy of Nurse Anesthetists. Horizon Health was chosen because of its unique and extensive experience with peripheral nerve blocks.

In 2014, Horizon Health became a clinical site for graduate-level nursing students with specialty training in anesthesia. Through Horizon Health’s direct affiliation program with Southern Illinois University–Edwardsville (SIU-E), nurse anesthetist students perform clinical rotations at the hospital as part of their education. Under the direction of the clinical instructors, the students administer anesthesia to surgery patients, as well as patients in the Pain Management Clinic.