Integrating Advanced Practice Nurses in Anesthesia to Tackle Gaps in Current Health Care: A Qualitative Study.
Luzia Vetter, Balthasar L Hug, Maya Zumstein-Shaha
PMID 41797298WHAT IT FOUND
Patients, nurses and doctors in Switzerland all said the same thing about pain.
Hospital care was good, but patients went home without instructions on how to manage it. Nurses said their non-technical work is invisible and they are excluded from writing perioperative guidelines.
Key findings
01Patients reported good inpatient pain control but received little instruction on taking analgesics at home, leading to unmanaged pain after discharge.
02Two-thirds of nurse anesthetists said their contributions, such as anxiety management and holistic care, are overlooked in favour of technical tasks.
03Hospital nursing guidelines for delirium and pressure ulcer prevention existed but were rarely implemented during anesthesia, and nursing input into perioperative guidelines was limited.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Patients came from one hospital in German-speaking Switzerland, so the findings may not apply to other regions, languages or health literacy levels. Interviews were short, one lasting only 4 minutes, which limits how deeply any single perspective was explored. The study reports what people perceive as gaps. It does not measure whether patients actually suffered worse outcomes, or whether adding advanced practice nurses would fix anything. Nurse anesthetists and anesthesiologists were recruited through their professional associations, which may attract people with a stronger interest in the role debate.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest and reported no funding.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that advanced practice nurses improve anesthesia care. The study records what patients and clinicians think is missing. No patients received an intervention, and no outcomes were measured. The authors' proposal that advanced practice nurses could fill these gaps is their opinion, not a tested finding.