Metzgar Working to Establish Programs in Anesthetics at Confederate

              14-A Wednesday, August 27, 1975 THE SHREVEPORT TIMES
Metzgar Working to Establish Programs in Anesthetics at Confederate
By Elaine King
Times Medical Writer
Dr. Marshall T. Metzgar,
chief of Confederate
Memorial Medical Center's
department of anesthesiology,
is working to establish pro-grams
in anesthetics for
nurses and physicians at Con-federate.
Both programs are badly
needed in the area, he told
Confederate's advisory board
at its meeting last night.
At CMMC, for example,
general anesthesia is oot be-ing
used for deliveries of
newborns, he told the board,
except for deliveries by
caesarian section Local
anesthesia is used instead.
Dr. Metzgar said that in
some areas use of a general
anesthetic for delivery is
widely accepted, whjle in
other areas the common prac-tice
is to use local
anesthetics.
One of the programs that he
described would be for nurse
anesthesists and the other
would be a residency training
program in anesthesiology for
physicians.
An anesthetist, he told the
board, refers to the nurse who
administers anesthesia, while
anesthesiologist is a physician
who has s t u d i e d
anesthesiology.
"We are badly in need of
nurse anesthetists in this
area," Dr. Metzgar said.
"Even hospitals in Shreveport
are crying for nurse
anesthetists."
There are programs for
nurse anesthetists in Dallas
and Houston, Tex., Little
Rock, Ark., and New Orleans,
he said.
To be accredited by the
American Association of
Nurse Anethetists a nurse
anesthetist must head the
program. For the program
here, Dr. Metzgar said he
would want two nurse
anesthetists for instructors,
also a requirement.
Total cost to launch the pro-gram
at CMMC would be
about $60,000, he estimated.
Hospital Director Robert C.
Hall said the amount will be
included in the hospital's
budget request for the coming
fiscal year.
After funding, however, it
would be six to nine months
before the program could
begin and the enrollment
would be limited to no more
than three for the first year,
with possible expansion later,
according to Dr. Metzgar.
The residency training pro-gram
for physicians has been
funded, Dr. Metzgar said, and
would be housed at Con-federate
and the Veterans Ad-ministration
Hospital, both
teaching hospitals for
Louisiana State University
School of Medicine in
Shreveport.
To start the program there
must be at least two M.D.
anesthesiologists, he said. So
far Dr. Metzgar has been un-able
to recruit another physi-cian
for the program.
"Hopefully we can nave
that part of the program
started by next year," he told
the board.
Nurses and nurse-related
subjects came up several
times during the board's
meeting.
The board voted to request
the state board which handles
tests for nursing certification
to conduct the three-day tests
in Shreveport. They are con-ducted
in New Orleans.
The board also heard Hall's
report which included a pro-gress
report on the new
Cooper Road satellite clinic
which will treat CMMC out-patients
in an office being set
up in the David Raines
Center.
Caddo Parish is providing
the space for the clinic, ac-cording
to board member
Gregory Tarver.
No opening date has been
set, Hall said, but equipment
has been ordered for the
facility. The clinic will have
medical laboratory facilities
for tests, although the
facilities will not be as
sophisticated as in the
hospital, Hall said.
There will be a full-time
physician staffing the clinic,
he said.
Hall also told the board that
approval has been gained to
hire a full-time equal employ-ment
opportunity coordinator
for the hospital.
The board was also asked
to consider whether it will
support a suggested fund-raising
drive "for several
hundred thousand dollars" to
be used to build a chapel-volunteer
area at the hospital.
The funds would be collect-ed
from private donations,
Board Chairman Anna Laura
Wilder said, and has been
suggested by Mrs. Boggs
Creamer, head of volunteer
services, and Chaplain J. A.
S. Fisher.
No action on the request
was taken.