BRN advisory committee review finds few disciplinary cases for CRNAs; committee to add licensee counts

The Board of Registered Nursing’s Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist Advisory Committee on Sept. 18 reviewed posted tables showing disciplinary-case dispositions for certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs) and said the data indicate a low number of disciplinary cases but need denominators to show accurate rates.

Committee Chair Sandra Bordy, chair of the Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist Advisory Committee, opened the item as “information only” and invited staff to present the discipline dispositions. Laurie Melby, executive officer for the Board of Registered Nursing, and staff said the posted tables list categories such as practice violations, out-of-state discipline (OSD), conviction, substance-use disorder, misconduct and “other.” Melby said the current slides show only counts by category and do not include the number of active licensees needed to calculate percentages.

Sarah Polakowski, vice chair, and Lori (Laurie) Melby discussed the need to overlay active-license counts so committee members and the public can see whether a single disciplinary case represents a stable or falling percentage of the CRNA workforce. Melby said staff will add the active-license row to the chart to allow year-to-year percentage comparisons.

Board legal counsel Reza Pej recommended clarifying whether any discipline counts overlap across categories and, if needed, adding an explanatory asterisk. "We could just throw an asterisk under these charts and just reference, you know, there may be a possibility of overlap or that there isn't or whatever explanation is needed," Pej said. Melby reported that the chief of enforcement stated the data are recorded as individual counts per category but said staff would confirm the classification rules between meetings.

Committee member Kathleen Theobald asked whether one person could appear in multiple category counts (for example, an out-of-state action and a practice violation). Staff replied that the usual practice is to record cases in a single category but that rare overlaps could exist in older records; staff will verify and document the classification approach.

Public comment during this item included an unnamed commenter who compared BRN complaint trends with other medical boards. Melby explained reporting differences across boards, noting some agencies have employer-mandated reporting that BRN does not, and reiterated that the BRN monitors trends in complaints, accusations and discipline.

The committee took no formal action; staff said they will update future agenda materials to show the number of active CRNA licensees by year so the committee can calculate rates and better interpret the counts.

Ending: Committee Chair Bordy closed public comment on the item and moved on to the next agenda topic.