Background: Anesthesia as a specialty was introduced to Taiwan for over 40 years. In early days, there were quite a number of nurse anesthetists who were trained to share the heavy burden of anesthetic work. However, due to the increasing demand for better anesthetic quality, the role of nurse anesthetists is open to discussion.
Methods: Questionnaires were sent to anesthesiologists working in medical centers, regional hospitals, and district hospitals. We hoped to find out the present working condition of nurse anesthetists and what their future role would be.
Results: Over one-half of the questionnaires collected agree that nurse anesthetists should not conduct anesthesia by their own, and that they should only help prepare patients and drugs for anesthesia.
Conclusions: Anesthesia as a highly specialized field of medicine should be conducted by qualified and well trained anesthesiologists only. Training for nurse anesthetists should be confined to preparation of drugs and care of patients only.