September 15 , 2004

THE DIALOGUE CONTINUES

August 20, 2004 was a historic day. What took place that morning in the Westin O’Hare Hotel would have been unthinkable a year ago. On that day, the 11 member AANA Board of Directors met with the 12 member ASA Administrative Council for 5 hours. During this time, the leaders of both societies had an opportunity to meet each other, to learn the Thoughtbridge process, and to discuss issues in the presence of facilitators from Thoughtbridge.

On six previous occasions, a smaller group of AANA and ASA leaders met with the Thoughtbridge facilitators. It was the consensus during these meetings that important progress was being made in establishing meaningful dialogue between AANA and ASA. It was also the consensus that it was essential to involve a larger group of leaders from each society for the process to continue.

On that morning, the assembled group completed the following work:

• A final draft of the document entitled “The Procedural Guidelines for the Leadership of the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists and the American Society of Anesthesiologists” was approved by all present.
  
  
• Four ideas about how to communicate to the membership of both societies, the process used and the progress made at these meetings were adopted.
  
  
• Three future meetings of the smaller leadership group were scheduled, October 10-11, 2004 , November 7-8, 2004 , and January 9-10, 2005 .

AANA Immediate Past President Tom McKibban, CRNA , MS and ASA President Roger W. Litwiller, MD thanked those present for their cooperative spirit and hard work. They announced that this would be the last meeting in which they would be involved and urged that the process continue.