Profiles of CRNAs

Mary Costello founded the Cincinnati General Hospital School of Nurse Anesthesia (later the University of Cincinnati School of Nurse Anesthesia) in 1945 and served as its director for 27 years. Costello was one of the first nurse anesthetists/nurse anesthesiologists to become adept at the administration of regional anesthesia and instructed nurse anesthetists/nurse anesthesiologists from around the country in regional techniques. 
 

Costello also dedicated a large part of her career to AANA and the Ohio Association of Nurse Anesthetists. She served on the AANA Board of Trustees in 1949-1951 and 1953-1956, and she was AANA President in 1963-1964. She served on many AANA committees including the Curriculum Committee and the Government Relations Committee. She was awarded AANA’s Helen Lamb Outstanding Educator Award in 1987. Costello was president of the Ohio Association of Nurse Anesthetists in 1947-1948 and was granted life membership in 1970. 

Additional Information  

• AANA past-president Mary Alice Costello dies. AANA NewsBulletin. 2002;56(2):5. 
• Assignment medico. AANA NewsBulletin. 1963;17(3):3. 
• Bankert M. Watchful Care: A History of America’s Nurse Anesthetists. Continuum;1989.  
• Helen Lamb Award 1987 Mary Costello. AANA NewsBulletin. 1987;41(11)(suppl):4. 

Costello’s Bibliography 

• Costello MA. Anesthesia–a challenge to nurses. Am J Nurs. 1944; 44(8): 745-746. 
• Costello MA, Turner C, Hawkins M, Glenn M. Choice of anesthesia for surgical hip pinning in the aged. J Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1952;20(2):90-94. 
• Costello MA. Management of pulmonary ventilation. J Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1956;24(1):30-35. 
• Costello MA, Turner C, Link G. The tranquilizers. J Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1958;26(2):88-92. 
• Costello MA, Kaplan S. Use of a heart-lung machine in cardiac surgery. J Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1961;29(1):19-28 
• Costello MA. Anesthesia for the emergency patient. J Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1962; 30(1): 31-34,64. 
• Costello MA, Harris E. Fluothane, fluoromar, penthrane: a comparative study in the surgical and obstetrical patient. J Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1963;31(5):317-325. 
• Reece E, McFadden P, Costello MA. Significance of arcus senilis under anesthesia. J Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1966;34(3):169-73. 
• Costello MA, Griner V, Reese E. Three aspects of problems related to the geriatric patient. J Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1967;35(3):179-192. 
• Costello MA, Peters PA. The ion potassium. J Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1970;38(2):126-33. 
• Costello MA. Valium induction. J Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1971;39(3):185-90. 

Colonel Mildred Clark had a long and distinguished career in the Army Nurse Corps (ANC). Six months after joining the ANC in 1938, she took her anesthesia training at Jewish Hospital, Philadelphia. She was stationed at Schofield Barracks when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941. Later she served in leadership roles within the United States and at the 382d Station Hospital in Korea. In 1947 she became the Director of Nurses of the XXIV Corps in Korea and less than a year later, Chief Nurse of the Far East Command in Tokyo. Her assignment as Procurement Officer in the Surgeon General’s Office tested her skills and creativity to recruit nurses during a nationwide nursing shortage. In 1963, she was the first nurse anesthetist/nurse anesthesiologist to be appointed as Chief of the Army Nurse Corps and served until her retirement in 1967.

Additional Information  

• Colonel Clark named chief. AANA NewsBulletin. 1964;18(1):13. 

• Sarnecky MT. Biographies of the Superintendents and Chiefs of the ANC: Colonel Mildred I. Clark. Army Nurse Corps Association website. 
• Gunn IP. Pearl Harbor, the Korean Conflict, and COL Mildred Irene Clark. AANA Journal. 2000;68(6):487-490. 

Gertrude L. Fife was born in 1902 in Vermont and received her nurses training at Fanny Allen Hospital School of Nursing, Winooski, Vermont. A 1925 graduate of Lakeside Hospital School of Anesthesia in Cleveland, Ohio, Fife was appointed a member of the staff immediately upon graduation and was Agatha Hodgins’ first assistant. She was a charter member of AANA. At the June 1931 organizational meeting of AANA she made the motion that a national organization of nurse anesthetists be formed. She served as AANA’s second president in 1933-1935. Fife was instrumental in planning the first AANA Annual Meeting, which was held in Milwaukee in 1933. She published the first issue of the AANA Journal in 1933 and served as Journal editor and chair of the Publishing Committee until 1944. She also was AANA’s treasurer from 1935 to 1950. 

Fife was appointed director of the University Hospitals of Cleveland (formerly Lakeside Hospital) School of Anesthesia in 1934 after Agatha Hodgins’ retirement. She served in that position and as director of University Hospitals’ anesthesia department until her own retirement in 1946. 

She was the recipient of AANA’s Award of Appreciation in 1950 and the Agatha Hodgins Award for Outstanding Accomplishment in 1978. Fife died on October 6, 1980. 

Additional Information  

• Bankert M. Watchful Care: A History of America’s Nurse Anesthetists. Continuum;1989.  
• Gertrude Fife named recipient of 4th AANA Annual Agatha Hodgins Award for Outstanding Accomplishment. AANA NewsBulletin. 1978;32(6):4. 
• Gertrude L. Fife, one of the AANA founding members, dies. AANA NewsBulletin. 1980;34(12):3. 
• Mrs. Fife retires after twenty-one years at University Hospitals. J Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1946;14(2):55. 
• Thatcher VS. History of Anesthesia with Emphasis on the Nurse Specialist. JB Lippincott;1953. See chapters 12-16. 

Fife’s Bibliography 

• Fife GL. The future of the nurse anesthetist. Report of the First Annual Meeting of the National Association of Nurse Anesthetists. 1933:15-19. 
• Fife GL. Report of the president. Report of the Second Annual Meeting of the National Association of Nurse Anesthetists. 1934:23-25. 
• Barlow OW, Fife GL, Hodgins AC. Clinical use of pentobarbital sodium as a preanesthetic agent. Arch Surg. 1934;29(4):527-545. 
• Barlow OW, Fife GL, Hodgins AC. Avertin in preanesthetic medication: a survey of 1,831 surgical anesthesias. Arch Surg. 1934;29(5):810-827. 
• Fife GL. President’s report. Bull Natl Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1935;3(1):48-50. 
• Fife GL. Save rubber [letter]. Bull Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1942;10(3):161. 
• McMahon J, Fife GL. Nursing problems in recovery from anesthesia. Am J Nurs. 1945;45(8):618-622. 
• Fife GL. Administration of an anesthesia department. J Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1946;14(2):7-16. 
• Fife GL. Is the situation serious?  J Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1947;15(2):7. 
• Fife GL. The sending of senior students to institutions in need of anesthesia service. J Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1947;15(2):91-92. 
• Fife GL. The nurse as anesthetist. Am J Nurs. 1947;47(5):308-309. 
• Fife GL. Anesthesia for the psychotic patient. J Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1950;50(6):256-294. 

Edith Graham was the first anesthetist at St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester, Minnesota. In fact, she was the first trained nurse in the community, having received her nursing instruction at Women’s Hospital in Chicago. Graham provided safe anesthesia for Dr. Charles M. Mayo and Dr. William J. Mayo’s patients from 1889 to 1893, her career ceasing upon her marriage to Charles Mayo. She was the hospital’s only anesthetist during those years.

Additional Information  

• Pougiales J. The first anesthetizers at the Mayo Clinic. J Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1970;38(3):235-241. 
• Thatcher VS. History of Anesthesia with Emphasis on the Nurse Specialist. JB Lippincott; 1953. 

Florence Henderson was another prominent nurse anesthetist/nurse anesthesiologist at St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester, Minnesota. She provided safe anesthesia to Dr. Charles Mayo’s patients from 1904 to 1917 and was a specialist in the administration of ether. She disseminated her knowledge by speaking at medical societies and publishing articles. In 1913 she read her paper, Ether Anesthesia, before the Southern Minnesota Medical Association. She was the only nurse to speak, and her paper was published the next year in the St. Paul Medical Journal. In 1917 she moved to California and provided anesthesia for a group of surgeons until her retirement in the 1920s. 

Additional Information 

• Harris NA, Hunziker-Dean J. Florence Henderson: the art of open-drop ether. Nurs Hist Rev. 2001;9:159-184. 
• Hunziker-Dean J. Voice and touch: Florence Henderson on the skills of an ether specialist. AANA J. 1999;67(3):263-269. [Includes a reprint of her article “Ether Anesthesia”] 
• Pougiales J. The first anesthetizers at the Mayo Clinic. J Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1970;38(3):235-241. 
• Thatcher VS. History of Anesthesia with Emphasis on the Nurse Specialist. JB Lippincott; 1953. 

Henderson’s Bibliography 

• Henderson F. The nurse as an anesthetist. Am J of Nurs. 1909;9(12):947-949, discussion 950-953. 
• Henderson F. Ether anesthesia. St Paul Med J. 1914;16(2):74-81, discussion 81-82. [Reprinted in the AANA Journal] 
• Henderson F. Observations drawn from an experience of twenty-two thousand surgical anesthetics. South Calif Practitioner. 1917;32:154-158. 

Agatha Hodgins was born in Toronto, Canada in 1877. She graduated from the Boston City Hospital Training School for Nurses in 1900 and went to work at Lakeside Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1908, surgeon George Crile asked her to be his anesthetist. Hodgins soon began to instruct nurses in the administration of anesthesia. In 1914, she served with Crile and others from Lakeside Hospital in France during World War I and taught many how to administer nitrous oxide-oxygen anesthesia. Hodgins formalized the Lakeside Hospital School of Anesthesia in 1915 after her return from France and served as director from 1915 to 1933. 

On June 17, 1931, she gathered a group of Lakeside Hospital School of Anesthesia alumnae and held the organizational meeting of the National Association of Nurse Anesthetists (renamed the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists in 1939) at Lakeside Hospital. She was elected the first president of AANA (1931-1933) and was named Honorary President in 1933. She served as a Trustee from 1933 to 1945. 

Hodgins retired in 1933 after suffering a heart attack yet remained involved in association activities. Hodgins died March 24, 1945, in Chatham, Mass. 

Additional Information  

• Bankert M. Watchful Care: A History of America’s Nurse Anesthetists. Continuum;1989.
• Gaffey V. Agatha Cobourg Hodgins: she only counted shining hours. AANA J. 2007;75(2): 97-100. 
• In memoriam: Agatha C. Hodgins. J Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1945;13(2):6. 
• Koch K. AANA’s 75th Anniversary: Agatha Hodgins, Lakeside Alumnae Association, and the founding of the AANA. AANA J. 2005;73(4):259-262. 
• Moore CR, Lamb H, Allwein A. Agatha Cobourg Hodgins. J Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1946;14(2):32-35. 
• Plaque honoring Agatha Hodgins and AANA’s founding dedicated. AANA NewsBulletin. 1996;50(1):13. 
• Some specialists: Agatha C. Hodgins. Am J Nurs. 1930;30(9):1163-1164. 
• Thatcher V. History of Anesthesia with Emphasis on the Nurse Specialist. JB Lippincott;1953. See chapters 5-7 and 12-13. 

Hodgins’ Bibliography 

• Hodgins AC. Anesthesia screen. Am J Nurs. 1911;11(4):256. 
• Hodgins AC. The technique of administering nitrous oxid-oxygen anesthesia. In: Crile GW, Lower WE. Anoci-Association. WB Saunders; 1914:226-239. 
• Hodgins AC. The work of the nurse anesthetist. Can Nurse. 1918;14:1149-1153. 
• Hodgins AC. Nitrous oxide-oxygen anaesthesia. In: Burghard FF, Kanavel AB, eds.Oxford Loose-Leaf Surgery. Vol 1. Oxford University Press; 1920:75-96. 
• Hodgins AC. The administration of nitrous oxid-oxygen analgesia for operations on the thyroid gland. In: Rowland AF, ed. The Thyroid Gland: Clinics of George W. Crile and Associates. WB Saunders; 1922:213-221. 
• Hodgins AC. The art of anesthesia [book review]. Am J Nurs. 1923;23(10):907-909. 
• Hodgins AC. The nurse anesthetist. Am J Nurs. 1930;30(7):859-864. 
• Hodgins AC. President’s address. First Annual Meeting of the National Association of Nurse Anesthetists. 1933:10-13. 
• Hodgins AC. Evaluation of anesthetic drugs and methods. Bull Natl Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1935 August;3(3):6-18. 
• Hodgins AC. Address of welcome. Bull Natl Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1936;4(4):181-182. 
• Hodgins AC. Editorial. Bull Natl Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1938;6(2):53-54. 
• Barlow OW, Fife GL, Hodgins AC. Clinical use of pentobarbital sodium as a preanesthetic agent. Arch Surg. 1934;29(4):527-545.
• Barlow OW, Fife GL, Hodgins AC. Avertin in preanesthetic medication: a survey of 1,831 surgical anesthesias. Arch Surg. 1934;29(5):810-827.
• Hodgins AC. Introducing the Department of Education. Bull Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1940;8(2):102-105. 
• Hodgins AC. Permanent values in organization. Bull Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1941;9(2):106-108. 
• Hodgins AC. Educational objectives of the AANA. Bull Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1941;9(3):163-173. 
• Hodgins AC. Editorial. Bull Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1945;13(1):32-33. 

Alice Hunt was born in England in 1880 and received her nursing training at Union Hospital Training School in Fall River, Mass. After graduating in 1904, she worked as a nurse at surgeon Philemon Truesdale’s hospital in Fall River. Truesdale had seen anesthesia administered by nurses at the Mayo Clinic, and in 1908 when his physician anesthetist D. R. Ryder decided to focus on otolaryngology, Truesdale asked Hunt to become his anesthetist. Ryder taught her the technique of open drop ether. She then spent a week at the Mayo Clinic, followed by a trip to Providence, Rhode Island, where she learned the administration of nitrous oxide-ether.

In 1917 Hunt was asked to go to Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston to replace nurse anesthetist/nurse anesthesiologist Gertrude Gerrard who was overseas for the war. Here she trained both nurses and medical interns in the administration of anesthesia and gained recognition for her skillful administration of nitrous oxide-oxygen anesthesia. After the war ended, Samuel Harvey, professor of surgery at Yale, heard of Hunt’s skill in the nitrous oxide-oxygen technique and asked Hunt to send him an anesthetist. Hunt herself accepted his offer, and she was appointed as instructor of anesthesia with university rank on March 1, 1922. She was promoted to assistant professor in 1930. Hunt also worked as an anesthetist at Grace-New Haven Community Hospital. 

Hunt retired on June 30, 1948. To acknowledge her 26 years of service, the Board of Permanent Officers of the Yale University School of Medicine placed a tribute to her in their meeting minutes. It read in part

“Miss Hunt is truly a pioneer nurse anesthetist, largely self-taught by working with surgeons who had a natural prior interest in anesthesia. Without formal recognition, she developed a school of anesthesia here which attracted and trained many competent nurse anesthetists. Because she was a student by nature Miss Hunt acquired a good working knowledge of the anesthesia literature and was skillful in its practical application. Thus she was competent to teach nurses, medical students, and house officers alike. 

“She was among the first practitioners of the art to adopt in succession such agents as nitrous oxide-oxygen with closed-circuit rebreathing, avertin, ethylene, and cyclopropane. Under her jurisdiction the flammable and explosive gases were employed here for about twenty years without a single disastrous explosive episode.  

“Under all conditions of stress, strain and fatigue Miss Hunt was ever a gentlewoman, with a supreme devotion to the welfare of every patient. During the exigencies of the recent war, Miss Hunt carried on for four years in her department almost single-handed—a responsibility and labor for which the school and hospital are indebted beyond words.” 

Hunt died in 1956 at age 76 after a long illness. 

Additional Information

• Culter EC, Hunt AM. Postoperative pulmonary complications. Arch Surg. 1920;1(1):114-57. 
• Hunt AM. The evolution of anesthesia in twenty-five years. Trained Nurse Hosp Rev. 1935;46-50. 
• Hunt AM. A newer method of computing the individual dosage of avertin. Bull Natl Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1935;3(1):18-23. 
• Hunt AM. Evipal soluble for the control of convulsions from novocaine poisoning. Yale J Biol Med. 1938;11(2):109-111.
• Hunt AM. Anesthesia: Principles and Practice, A Presentation for the Nursing Profession. Putnam; 1949. 
• Thatcher VS. History of Anesthesia with Emphasis on the Nurse Specialist. JB Lippincott;1953.  

Helen Lamb was born on September 28, 1899, in Butler, Missouri. She received her nursing education at Christian Church Hospital School of Nursing, Kansas City, Missouri, and her RN license in 1921. She took her anesthesia training at Lakeside Hospital School of Anesthesia, Cleveland, Ohio, and was retained as a staff anesthetist after graduation. In 1927 she was recruited by thoracic surgeon Evarts A. Graham, the head of surgery at Barnes Hospital, St Louis, Missouri, to become his anesthetist. 

Lamb had a distinguished career at Barnes. She founded the School of Anesthesia in 1929 and served as director until her retirement in 1951. She administered the first endotracheal anesthetic in the United States, and she developed and administered the anesthetic for the world’s first successful pneumonectomy, performed by Graham, in 1933. She developed the intratracheal stylus for anesthesia and collaborated with Dr. Richard von Foregger in the development of the Foregger anesthesia machine. 

Lamb was heavily involved with AANA and helped shape its early years. She was a charter member of the AANA (then called the National Association of Nurse Anesthetists) and was present at its organizational meeting in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1931. She chaired the AANA Education Committee numerous times (1933-1940, 1942-1946) and worked to establish the curriculum and minimum standards for schools of nurse anesthesia. She served as 3rd vice president (1931-1933) and trustee (1933-1938, 1942-1946), and was elected as AANA’s fifth president (1940-1942). Lamb received the AANA along with honorary life membership to AANA in 1956. She was the second recipient of the Agatha Hodgins Award for Outstanding Accomplishment in 1976. In 1980, the Helen Lamb Outstanding Educator Award was established in her name. Lamb organized the Missouri Association of Nurse Anesthetists in 1935 and served as its first president. 

Lamb died on September 3, 1979, in San Diego, California. 

Additional Information  

• Bankert M. Watchful Care: A History of America’s Nurse Anesthetists. Continuum;1989.
• CRNA Helen Lamb Frost, one of the original founders of the association, awarded the annual Agatha Hodgins Award for Outstanding Accomplishment. AANA NewsBulletin. 1976;30(5):5. 
• Helen Lamb Frost, one of the original founders of the AANA, dies. AANA NewsBulletin. 1979;33(5):7. 
• Schwartz AJ. Helen Lamb: Some insight into her life and times —Part 1 and Part 2. AANA J. 2003;71(2):93-96 and 2003;71(3):183-186.
• Thatcher V. History of Anesthesia with Emphasis on the Nurse Specialist. JB Lippincott;1953. 
• Mueller CB. Evarts A. Graham: the life, lives, and times of the surgical spirit of St. Louis. BC Decker; 2002.

Lamb’s Bibliography 

• Lamb H. Endo tracheal inhalation gas oxygen anesthesia. Report of the First Annual Meeting of the National Association of Nurse Anesthetists. 1933:29-34. 
• Lamb H. Helium and its clinical application. Bull Natl Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1939(2);7:90-95.
• Lamb H. Technique of administration, endotracheal and endopharyngeal nitrous oxide oxygen anesthesia. In: Graham EA, Singer JJ, Ballon HC. Surgical diseases of the chest. Lea & Febiger; 1935. 
• Lamb H. The measured administration of anesthetic and auxiliary gases. Bull Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1939;7(4):327-332. 
• Lamb H. Anatomy of the respiratory system. Bull Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1940;8(3):168-178.
• Lamb H. Anesthetic explosion hazards and precautions. Bull Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1941;9(2):94-100. 
• Lamb H. Report of the president. Bull Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1941;9(4):284-287. 
• Lamb H. Reports of officers and committees: president. Bull Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1942;10(4):240-242. 
• Lamb H. Method of calculating the percentage of individual anesthetic and therapeutic gases contained within an administered mixture. Bull Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1943;11(1):38-41. 
• Lamb H. Partial pressure of gases. Bull Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1943;11(2):75-77. 
• Lamb H. The barbiturates: with particular reference to their use in anesthesia. Bull Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1943;12(4):229-240. 
• Lamb H. Metabolism and basal metabolism. J Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1947(2);15:77-80, 102. 
• Lamb H. Management of certain complications that occur during anesthesia. J Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1950(2);18:87-97. 
• O’Carroll MA, Holodat DA, Brighton GR, Schram OM, Stone HH, Powers M, Sullivan MF, Powell HL, Krumperman LW, Shupp MG. Controversial questions in anesthesia: a forum. J Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1953(3);21:172-191. 

Alice Magaw was born November 9, 1860, in Cashocton, Ohio. She attended the Women’s Hospital School of Nursing in Chicago from 1887 to 1889, and after graduation she worked as a private duty nurse in Chicago. 

In 1893, Magaw became the anesthetist for Drs. William J. and Charles H. Mayo at St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester, Minn., a position she held until 1908 when she married Dr. George Kessel. In 1899, Magaw became the first nurse anesthetist/nurse anesthesiologist to be published when the Northwestern Lancet printed her article “Observations in Anesthesia.” Five more articles would follow. Charles Mayo bestowed upon her the name “Mother of Anesthesia” for her mastery of open drop ether.   

Magaw died on February 17, 1928, in Hudson, Wisconsin. 

Additional Information

• Bankert M. Watchful Care: A History of America’s Nurse Anesthetists. Continuum; 1989. See chapter 1.
• Harris NA. Alice Magaw: The Mother of Anesthesia. University of Iowa; 2006.
• Koch E. Alice Magaw and the great secret of open drop anesthesia. AANA J. 1999;67(1):33-38.
• Pougiales J. The first anesthetizers at the Mayo Clinic. J Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1970;38(3):235-241. 
• Thatcher VS. History of Anesthesia with Emphasis on the Nurse Specialist. JB Lippincott; 1953. See chapters 4-5. 
• Nelson JE, Wilstead SF. Imaging in time – Alice Magaw, Her life in and out of the operating room. AANA J. 2009;77(1):12-16. 

Magaw’s Bibliography

• Magaw A. Observations in anesthesia. Northwestern Lancet. 1899;19:207-210. 
• Magaw A. Observations on 1092 cases of anesthesia from Jan. 1, 1899 to Jan. 1, 1900. St Paul Med J. 1900;2:306-311. 
• Magaw A. A report of 245 cases of anesthesia by nitrous oxide gas and ether. St Paul Med J. 1901;3(4):231-233. Also printed in: Railway Surgeon. May 14, 1901;7(26): 599-600. 
• Magaw A. The administration of anesthetics. St Paul Med J. 1902;4:11-16. 
• Magaw A. Observations drawn from an experience of eleven thousand anesthesias. Transaction of the Minn State Med Assoc. 1904;91-99. [Discussion of paper, 99-102] 
• Magaw A. A review of over fourteen thousand surgical anesthesias. Surg Gynecol Obstet. 1906;3:795-799. Reprinted in the February 1999 AANA J. 

Florence McQuillen was born in Mahtwa, Minnesota, and graduated from the Central School of Nursing at the University of Minnesota in 1925. She received her anesthesia education at the Minneapolis General Hospital in 1926. Physician Anesthesiologist John S. Lundy invited McQuillen to join his staff at the Mayo Clinic in 1927. She worked closely with Lundy as chief nurse anesthetist and as a clinical instructor and collaborated with him in editing and abstracting articles for Anesthesia Abstracts. 

In 1948 McQuillen became the first AANA Executive Director, a position she held until her retirement in 1970. In her 22 years as Executive Director, McQuillen was influential in virtually all areas of AANA’s growth and expansion. Under her guidance, the US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare officially recognized AANA’s authority to grant accreditation for nurse anesthesia programs and to grant certification for nurse anesthetists/nurse anesthesiologists. She also instituted AANA’s voluntary continuing education program, which made AANA the first professional nursing organization to recognize the need for continuing professional education; this eventually led to the adoption of a mandatory CE program. She received the AANA Award of Appreciation in 1970 and the Agatha Hodgins Award of Outstanding Accomplishment in 1981. 

Additional Information  

• AANA loses two great leaders…former AANA executive director Florence A. McQuillen dies. AANA NewsBulletin. 1982;36(3):1,4. 
• Bankert M. Watchful Care: A History of America’s Nurse Anesthetists. Continuum Publishing; 1993. 
• Florence A. McQuillen is named recipient of the 7th Annual AANA Agatha Hodgins Award of Outstanding Accomplishment. AANA NewsBulletin. 1981;35(11 suppl):8-9. 
• Fosburgh LC. Mack – an autobiography. AANA J. 1996;64:583-586. 
• Richards LE. Florence A. McQuillen appointed Executive Director. J Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1948;16(1):1. 
• Thatcher VS. History of Anesthesia with Emphasis on the Nurse Specialist. JB Lippincott;1953. 

McQuillen’s Bibliography  

• Lundy JS, McQuillen FA. Anesthesia Abstracts, 1937-1965. 
• McQuillen FA. Observations on the literature on anesthesia. Anesthesiology. 1947;8(1):80-4. 
• McQuillen FA, Lundy JS. Trends in anesthesia as indicated by a sampling of the literature. Journal of the Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1947;15(4): 187-199,224. 
• McQuillen FA. Postanesthesia observation room. J Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1948;16(1): 20-24, 57. 
• McQuillen FA. Cerebral manifestations of anoxia; a review of the literature, part 1. J Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1949;17(2):137-73. 
• McQuillen FA. Cerebral manifestations of anoxia; a review of the literature, part 2. J Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1949;17(3):256-65. 
• Dawley ES, McQuillen FA. Nurse anesthetists keep standards high. Hosp Manage. 1955;79(2):40. 
• Lundy JS, McQuillen FA. Narcotics and the anesthetist: professional hazards. J Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1962;30(3):147-176. 
• McQuillen FA, Baum BO. Nurse anesthetists in the United States. Can Nurse. 1966;62(1):34-5.  

Ruth Pacini Satterfield was born in Lewistown, Pennsylvania in 1913, the third of ten children. After graduating from high school in 1930, she went into nursing at Georgetown University Hospital’s diploma program. She continued her education at several institutions, including Catholic University, Georgetown University, and Western Reserve University. It was at Western Reserve University that she received her Certificate in Anesthesia. Satterfield dedicated her life to the development and advancement of nurse anesthesia education, pursuing advanced degrees to increase her effectiveness as an educator and a clinician. She earned a BS in Nursing Education from University of Rochester, and a Master’s degree in Nursing Education from Columbia University. 

The majority of her career was spent in the Army Nurse Corps, which she joined in 1940. Just one year later, she opened a nurse anesthesia course at Fort Jackson in North Carolina. She served as education director of all army schools of nurse anesthesia; director of the Army Nurse Corps Anesthesia Course at Walter Reed General Hospital in Washington, D.C.; and concluded her army career as the first nurse ever to be appointed Consultant to the Army Surgeon General. During her tenure as Consultant, the army anesthesia curriculum was revised extending the program from 12 to 18 months, and nurse anesthesia programs were established at three Army Medical Centers, bringing the total number of schools to seven. COL Satterfield retired from service in 1968, but remained actively engaged in the field of nurse anesthesia. 

She continued her work as the Senior On-Site Accreditation Visitor for Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs (1968-1981) and as the Educational Consultant to the Council on Accreditation (1975-1985). She remained dedicated to the task of accreditation as Consultant Emeritus to the Council for years. Her honors include the second Oak Leaf Cluster to the Army Commendation Medal for her work as Special Course Director, Anesthesia, William Beaumont General Hospital; the prestigious Order of Military Medical Merit for her “sustained contributions to the betterment of Army medicine;” and the first “A” prefix for Military Occupational Excellency. Satterfield was also the first recipient of the AANA Agatha Hodgins Award for Outstanding Accomplishment in 1975. 

Ruth Satterfield passed away on March 1, 2008, at the age of 94 in her home in El Paso, Texas. She is buried at Ft. Bliss National Cemetery.

Additional Information  

• Bankert M. Watchful Care: A History of America’s Nurse Anesthetists. Continuum; 1989.
• CRNA Ruth Satterfield honored with first AANA Annual Agatha Hodgins Award for Outstanding Accomplishment. AANA NewsBulletin. September 1975;29(5):5. 
• Gunn IP. The history of nurse anesthesia education – highlights and influences. AANA J. 1991;59(1):53-61. 

Helen Pauline Vos was born on July 10, 1914 at the family farm in Mahaska County, Iowa. She was the fourth of six children, four girls and two boys. She completed her nursing training at Deaconess Hospital in Marshalltown, Iowa. In 1942, she joined the Army Nurses Corps and served for four years. Vos was stationed in Seward, Alaska working as an OR nurse for most of her time in the service, but was later transferred to Lawson General, a large Army hospital outside of Atlanta, where she was trained in anesthesiology. After leaving the Army Nurses Corps in 1946, Vos attended the University of Michigan Hospital School of Anesthesia to formalize her training as a nurse anesthetist/nurse anesthesiologist, and later Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan where she earned her BSN. Helen Vos started the nurse anesthesia program at Hurley Hospital in Flint, Michigan less than three years after graduating from her own program. She served as the school’s first Program Director from 1950-1954 when she was faced with an exciting new opportunity. 
 
Helen Vos was invited to go to Pakistan to teach nurses anesthesia, and she enthusiastically accepted the call. From 1954-1958, Vos served as Director of the School of Anesthesia at United Christian Hospital in Lahore, Pakistan. The mission hospital served as a base for many surgeries and new students. At that time, textbooks for anesthesia were rarely written in any language but English, so students had to learn English to train as nurse anesthetists/nurse anesthesiologists. Vos taught her students a number of new techniques, including intravenous anesthesia and intubation. 

Vos became the Educational Director for the School of Nurse Anesthesia at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis after her return to the United States in 1958. She was named the second director of the North Carolina Baptist Hospital School of Anesthesia, Winston-Salem, NC (1963-1977), where she was also appointed Assistant Professor, Allied Health Programs, Bowman Gray School of Medicine. She traveled throughout the country presenting continuing education lectures and taught countless numbers of CRNAs/nurse anesthesiologists the meaning of the “three-lead EKG.” She served as the 1965-1966 AANA President and was presented with the AANA Agatha Hodgins Award for Outstanding Accomplishment in 1979 and the Helen Lamb Outstanding Educator Award in 1996. 

Helen Vos died on October 16, 2007 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Her career was marked by dedication to the education of nurse anesthetists/nurse anesthesiologists both in the United States and abroad. Her passion for teaching continued throughout her life and is still honored today. 

A scholarship was established in her memory for students in the Nurse Anesthesia Program at the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, and the AANA presents the Helen P. Vos Memorial Lecture at the Annual Congress each year.

Additional Information  

• Bankert M. Watchful Care: A History of America’s Nurse Anesthetists. Continuum; 1989. Available for purchase from the AANA Bookstore. 
• Helen Vos named recipient of the 5th Annual AANA Agatha Hodgins Award for Outstanding Accomplishment. AANA NewsBulletin. 1979;33(5):8-9. 
• Helen Vos presented with Helen Lamb Outstanding Educator Award. AANA NewsBulletin. 1996;50(10):26. 
• Obituary: Helen P. Vos. Salem Funeral Home website. 

Vos’ Bibliography  

• Vos HP. The EKG -Interpretation of common arrythmias. J Am AssocnNurse Anesth. 1973;41(5):391-406. 
• Vos HP. Endocrine responses during stress. J Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1962;30(2):110-113. 
• Vos HP, Larson LC. Preoperative evaluation and physical assessment of the patient. J Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1982;50(1):90-100. 
• Vos HP. Report of the President. AANA News Bulletin. 1966;20(6):26-27. 
• Vos HP. Vagal reflexes. J Am Assoc Nurse Anesth. 1961;29(2):63-69. 

A practitioner in anesthesia for more than 50 years, Sophie Winton began her career at Swedish Hospital in Minneapolis where she was trained in anesthesia. In 1918 she joined the Nursing Corps, then part of the Red Cross, and was assigned to Mobile Hospital No. 1 in the Chateau-Thierry area in France, often giving as many as 25-30 anesthetics a day with open drop ether and chloroform. She received the French Croix de Guerre and six overseas service bars for her service on the front lines during World War I. 

In 1933, she lent her financial support in a test case in California that was to have far reaching effects on the practice of nurse anesthesia: Chalmers-Francis v Nelson. Winton was an early independent practitioner and managed her own dental and plastic surgery clinic in California until 1960. She was awarded honors by the Mexican Dental Association in conjunction with the International Dental Association for her advancement in the delivery of dental anesthesia. In 1984 she was presented with the AANA’s Agatha Hodgins Award for Outstanding Accomplishment. 

Additional Information  

• Bankert M. Watchful Care: A History of America’s Nurse Anesthetists. Continuum Publishing; 1993. 
• Garde JF. CRNA pioneer Sophie Winton dies at age 102. AANA NewsBulletin. 1989;43(6):4. 
• Miriam Shupp and Sophie Winton presented with 10th AANA Annual Agatha Hodgins Award for Outstanding Accomplishment. AANA NewsBulletin. 1984;38(11):5-7. 
• Thatcher VS. History of Anesthesia with Emphasis on the Nurse Specialist. JB Lippincott;1953.