ASA Welcomes New VA Secretary, Urges Halt to Nursing Handbook

On Monday, August 25, ASA President Jane C.K. Fitch sent a letter to new VA Secretary Robert McDonald, congratulating him on his recent confirmation and expressing grave concerns with the proposed VHA Nursing Handbook. In the letter, Dr. Fitch urged the Secretary to halt the Handbook, as “the application of the primary care-oriented VHA Nursing Handbook to the surgical–anesthesia setting could put the safety and lives of Veterans at risk.”

In addition to noting that VA’s own chiefs of Anesthesiology invoked the “Stop the Line for Patient Safety Employee Education Initiative,” the letter also raises concern that this proposed policy has been opposed by Veterans Service Organizations and a bipartisan group of more than 65 members of Congress.