New York State Component President Calls for Physician-led Anesthesia Care in NY Outpatient Centers

In an Oct. 19 letter to the editor in the Buffalo News (New York), Richard Wissler, MD, FASA, president of the New York State Society of Anesthesiologists, wrote about the state executive order that temporarily suspended physician supervision of nurse practitioners in hopes of managing COVID-19, how the order has yet to be reversed for non-hospital settings, and the importance of physician-led care and the anesthesia care team model. “We believe that nurse anesthesia without direct physician supervision is unsafe, and a giant step backward in patient care,” he wrote.