Ep 56: Courage to Lead: Looking Back at Dick Ouellette’s Time as AANA President

In the latest installment of our Courage to Lead series, we spend some time with Dick Ouellette, CRNA, MEd, who was a two-term president of the AANA. During his time serving in that capacity, Ouellette helped reinvigorate the profession by focusing on education standards and had a heavy involvement in direct reimbursement coming to pass.   Read more about this episode: https://beyondthemaskpodcast.com/?p=2223    Today's Rundown:  2:43 – Our special guest today is Dick Ouellette, CRNA    3:17 – Give us some highlights from your two terms as AANA President. 4:46 – The second thing he was interested in at the time. 6:19 – Where he was focused during the second term. 7:18 – Why were joint committees so important to Dick at the time? 10:39 – Direct reimbursement’s beginning and how it progressed during his term. 16:42 – What’s the significance of direct reimbursement? 19:18 – What would it look like today if direct reimbursement didn’t happen? 23:48 – Education was a big concern for Dick. What was the response when he wanted to increase requirements? 28:08 – Dick shares a great story about Sandy and education.   28:33 – Moving to 1990 and the commission that formed. 33:06 – The thing that Dick feels we’re lacking the most today. 36:39 – If Dick could pick one other profession, what would it be?