About the Navy Anesthesia Society

The NAS is still a fairly new organization, having officially been in existence since 1988. We started as a small society of about 40 core members, all in the U.S. Navy, and we have expanded over the past few years to include first our Army and Air Force colleagues, then U.S. civilians, and now we are seeing significant interest from the international anesthesia community (both military and civilian). The NAS currently claims around 400 active members and about 1400 more people in the potential field of membership (in our database).
Our membership is composed primarily of military anesthesiologists and nurse anesthetists. Besides the active duty members, we have many retired, reservist and former active duty members who are now in civilian practice. We also claim resident anesthesiologists and nurse anesthetist trainees among our membership. Although our primary focus remains on military anesthesia and trauma care, we also include U.S. and even foreign civilian anesthetists in our organization. NAS members live in all 50 states. NAS members can be found in about a dozen countries scattered throughout Europe, the Caribbean and the Pacific Basin.
Our main focus is on issues relating to delivery of anesthesia and critical care services, trauma care and combat casualty transport in a military environment. This has traditionally been defined as battlefield, shipboard or other operational scenarios. Our focus extends quite naturally however into the problems associated with anesthesia and surgical support in other austere environments. These would include natural or man-made disasters and the less-developed countries.
The NAS is the only military anesthesia society in the world that includes both physician and nurse anesthetists. It is our desire to change the NAS into a truly triservice and truly international organization in 1997. Although this objective has been explicitly stated in the past, and is in fact incorporated into the Bylaws under which we operate, some os our members believe that the NAS has not done enough in the past to make this happen. In fact, at this writing we count fewer than 50 active members on our roster from the Army and Air Force. This is especially curious in light of the fact that the NAS originally started as a spinoff of the Dannemiller Foundation, which in turn has its roots in the Air Force.
Our meetings are typically held once a year, but this year we will be hosting a second meeting. 103 members attended the Symposium we held this past March in San Francisco. We are expecting our highest attendance ever this October at the Fall Update on Military Anesthesia , to be held in San Diego. There will be many in attendance from the Army and Air Force.
At the annual NAS Symposium two years ago, in an attempt to emphasize the joint nature of our mission, a proposition was voted on to change our name to the Military Anesthesia Society. This proposition failed to win enough support at that time, mainly because a few members felt that we needed to see a bigger commitment from the Army and Air Force before undertaking the tedious process of amending our Bylaws. This year the NAS is actively seeking to recruit as many members from the Army and Air Force as possible, not only to attend and speak at our meetings but also to become active, vocal members of our organization.
We will soon vote again on the resolution to change our name to the Military Anesthesia Society (or any other name which identifies us as a joint-service organization which includes both nurse and physician anesthetists). It is my sincere hope that this resolution is upheld this year. Just as joint military operations capitalize on the strengths of the different services, so too can the NAS take advantage of the diverse talents of all of our uniformed anesthesia providers by reaffirming our status as a triservice organization.
The Navy Anesthesia Society is an independent, non-profit, civilian educational organization. The NAS Newsletter is the official quarterly publication of the Navy Anesthesia Society. Its mission is to enhance the professional development of military anesthetists around the world by keeping them abreast of emerging developments within the subspecialties of military anesthesia and related fields which may affect their practice.

How to get more information about the NAS
Email me:

1) your postal address
2) what was your highest rank in the military?
3) your home, office and fax numbers (all optional, for our database)
I will send you a free copy of a recent NAS Newsletter---no obligation. If you like what you see, then you can join. The annual dues are still only $25/year (the same dues that were set in 1988!!).
Sincerely,

LCDR David G. Elkins, MC, USN
NAS Secretary
Department of Anesthesiology
Naval Medical Center
San Diego, CA 92134-5000

Telephone: (619) 532-8943
Fax: (619) 532-8945
Email to: elkinsdave@aol.com
This way to the Web Site for the Fall 1997 NAS Symposium
Print out an application form for membership and send it in!
This way to other Military Anesthesia Links...
This page created by LCDR Steve Shiue. Email your comments or suggestions. (shiue@worldnet.att.net)