A curious moment: the proposal to certify nurse anesthetists by the American Board of Anesthesiology.

During the 1930s, many different practitioners gave anesthetics to patients. Qualifications were not necessary, and economics often drove the choice of anesthetic administrator. Both physicians and nurse specialists in anesthesia understood the need for specialty certification. For individual physicians, the American Board of Anesthesiology (ABA) was created as a sub-board of the American Board of Surgery (ABS) with the sanction of the American Medical Association and the American Society of Anesthetists. The nurse anesthetists worked toward program rather than individual certification. For one curious moment, the ABS asked the ABA to certify nurse anesthetists. Neither the nurses nor the physician anesthetists were overwhelmingly in favor of the proposal. However, had the proposal succeeded, the face of American anesthesiology would have been quite different.