Here is the small list of things I try:

Immersion

Writing out your ideas or lists to remember

Making note cards to carry around

Taking naps

Reading a lot!

Rereading more.

Ok, so this is the short list from a non expert in the field.  If you want to get the real low down on learning follow the link to an article that just is better than sliced bread for the student.  I highly recommend reading the article Hacking Knowledge.

Before the immersion process into anesthesia practice many of us had assumptions about what the world of anesthesia care is and what it takes to be a nurse anesthetist. Its only by being in the mix can it be demonstrated.  It’s only my opinion now – every one has their place in the world where they can be their best and do good work.  Where is it for you? For me its in the operating room giving kind attentive care with anesthesia and mentoring others to do the same.  Only you will be able to know if this a field that you have enough passion and drive to sustain you in order to attain the necessary skills to excel as an anesthesia provider in today’s world.

Here are a few comments from two “Shadow Experiences”.  What will yours be?

Dear David,
My observation experience was pivotal in understanding the dynamic practice of a CRNA and increased that “fire in my belly” pursuit for this field of nursing.  The moment I met Kari Cole, I was greeted with warmth and welcomed to the new state of the art LAC + USC Medical Center facility.  I met various individuals on my observation day such as the anesthesia attending Dr. Leipzig, and CRNAs Charlotte Garcia and David Godden.  Everyone was extremely friendly and receptive to my presence in the OR department.  The CRNAs that I met enjoyed teaching and it proved to be a great learning experience for me.

Through speaking with David, I learned about the goals of anesthesia and received a mini lesson on respiratory physiology.  Thanks David for taking the time to teach and give advice to me.  I spent the morning and afternoon shadowing Charlotte Garcia CRNA and gained further insight into the CRNA profession.  She provided a holistic approach to the plan of care starting with a very thorough preoperative work up that included a review of history and physical, consents, labs, EKG, x-ray films, and assessment of the patient.  CRNAs possess exceptional knowledge and astute skills which enables them to respond to the dynamic patient changes in the operating room.  On this particular day, I saw those attributes come into play as the Charlotte demonstrated diligence with induction, intubation, and positioning of the patient.  During surgery, she manipulated various medications and fluids to maintain hemodynamic stability and to ultimately achieve the goals of anesthesia.

I learned a plethora of new and interesting concepts from Charlotte such as MAC, calculating blood loss, and reversal agents.  I also received advice about the educational rigors and expectations of the USC Program of Anesthesia.  While in the OR, Kari and Charlotte taught me about anesthesia and the elderly, an approach that is unique because geriatric patients respond to anesthesia very differently than adult patients.  I would like to thank everyone for taking the time to teach me about the CRNA profession.  My shadowing experience was extremely positive and I hope to return to this facility for another observation day in the near future.

Sincerely,
Mabel RN

Thank you Mable.  You were terrific and I am looking forward to seeing your application and encouraging you during the interview process.  Mabel demonstrated the attributes that potential candidates need to succeed.  Good luck and keep the fire burning.

Here is another letter I received and held back a couple of weeks trying to figure out what to do with it.  Should I edit it a bit….Hmmmmm.  In the end here it is – another example of work from a great candidate that idealizes so many of the great qualities of nurse anesthesia practice; attentiveness to detail, patience and sound judgment.  Lisa I am looking forward to seeing you again and I know that you will do well what ever program you choose to join.  The only reason I held back on posting your letter without editing is that it seemed a little too much about me which I do not want.  So here it is.

David,

It was a true pleasure meeting you, “The Average Man” behind the making of a terrific website for people who are interested in pursuing an advanced degree in Nurse Anesthesia (NA). A few months ago I did a web search looking for sites that could answer some of my questions regarding the NA profession, without all the boring political information, and came across yours. When I arrived at LAC + USC for my shadowing experience and Mrs. Cole said I would be with you I was ecstatic, had goose bumps and was jumping for joy on the inside. I said to her David the one that developed the nurse anesthetist website. She simply said yes.  I had the biggest smile on my face that I would like to think made the sun shine brighter that day.
I would encourage anyone who is thinking of going into an advanced degree of nursing to shadow a practitioner in their chosen field.

Personally,  I have shadowed a few times which just reinforces my desire to become a CRNA.  By far, shadowing at LAC + USC has been the most rewarding for me.  Probably because they are a strong teaching and research institution. Along with their expertise staff.

As a seasoned critical care nurse I feel confident in the excellent care I provide. I enjoy and embrace learning and increasing my knowledge base because it allows me to better serve the patients I encounter. During my shadow experiences, I must admit, I am amazed at how little I really know.  This in turn just gives me more motivation to continue my professional career growth along the nursing continuum.  Although I know that CRNA school will be painstaking rigorous, I am eagerly awaiting the challenge.  The coined term a “fire in the belly” is what I felt at the beginning of my journey.  That burning feeling has now become an engulfed fire running through my body.

David, thank you for your guidance and all the wealth of information you had shared regarding the profession, preparing for it and becoming a CRNA. You patiently and thoroughly answered all my questions. In addition, I would like to thank your colleagues for being enthusiastic, warm and welcoming when I was introduced to them. All of them (including you) gave encouraging words and advice. I value and greatly appreciate the experience I had during my visit

Sincerely,

Lisa

There you have it.  When will you call for a Shadow experience?  You have to remember that only The Shadow Knows for sure.  When you do interview for that coveted spot in an anesthesia program no matter where it is the one sure question that will be asked is if you have “Shadowed a nurse anesthetist and what did that experience teach you?”  That is a guaranteed question and one you must be prepared to answer.

The next step is yours.

Mel never lost here enthusiasm through loss of sleep and all the struggles SRNA’s go through.

Here is her letter to Dr. Michele Gold the program director at USC that puts it all in perspective:

Hi Dr Gold,

I just needed to drop you a quick line to Thank You and all of my preceptors and teachers at USC. As you know, I am out here in Florida, and it has been a real eye-opener as to the superior education and training that I have received at USC compared to (unfortunately) a lot of new graduates and students that I have come in contact with.  It has made me appreciate my “painful” two years even more….and I never thought Id say that Hope all is well with you and the program, we are loving our new life in Florida.

Sincerely,
Mel

Its a good thing for current students and candidates to any nurse anesthesia program to hear the stories of others however brief.  During our time in “The Program” at USC Mel and I did struggle more than a few times with what seemed at the time to be unreasonable expectations.  To say that its tough to become a CRNA is a true statement.  Think about it.  Would you want some lazy inattentive provider giving anesthesia to your grandmother?  Wouldn’t you want the brightest most vigilant anesthetist with the experience to handle any difficulty during the anesthetic to be at the head of the bed.  That’s what all anesthesia providers strive for whether physician or nurse anesthetist.

A case in point.  Yesterday afternoon a gun shot wound victim was “RB’d” to the OR.  Three CRNA’s and a first year resident were on hand to start the case that very quickly required all the standard lines, arterial central and multiple large peripheral IV’s.  We began the case immediately when the guy arrived with a Level One rapid infuser in the room.  We ended the case the two Level One’s going for volume resuscitation, I was giving a lot of blood products.  After an hour and a half the surgeons were mopping up and the attending anesthesiologist walked back in the room and smiled saying what a great job we all had done. Thankfully these kind of cases are not common out in the community.  But here at the largest level one trauma center in Los Angele’s we see a variety of crazy things from massive trauma from train wrecks, car crashes and of course the “knife and gun” club action.

I am glad that the training we received has prepared us to handle these as well as the routine.

The student nurses followed a couple of the CRNA’s until noon and were able to get a glimpse into what we do on a daily basis. For the students it was a good exposure to Nurse Anesthesia practice. This morning I received a note from two of them that I would like to pass along. I have slightly modified the letter to correct a couple of small things and to protect the innocent.

This first letter comes from Chi and details her experience with us at LAC-USC Medical Center:

Dear David,

I wanted to thank you for the wonderful and invaluable experience of shadowing you, your colleagues, and your SRNAs this past Friday. It was a great pleasure to be able to slip into the shoes of a SRNA for a day, an experience that only solidified my decision in pursuing the CRNA route.

From the early morning start to early afternoon, everyone in the program was warm, supportive, and provided a wealth of information. I was immediately drawn in by the warmth and comradery amongst the faculty and students all the while still upholding the impressive professionalism during morning conference. When we gathered for the morning presentations featuring resident speakers presenting their current research findings, I was impressed with how supportive the faculty was as the floor was opened to questions and comments on the presentations. I sensed a safe environment for learning which, in my opinion, can only foster growth and improvement. Even as visiting students on the campus, my fellow classmates and I were invited to participate in the open forums during discussion! As the morning progressed and we were each assigned to shadow a CRNA and his/her student, I was amazed to find how engaged, Karen, the CRNA was during my shadowing experience. I had expected to be her “shadow” instead, she was explaining and teaching me about the various equipments used, the types of drugs and their effects, and even going into “what if” scenarios with me, all the while not skipping a beat with her own SRNA and her patient. I was in absolute awe that one person can do all these multiple tasks and be so efficient in everything!

Aside from getting advice from the faculty and CRNAs about the career and field, I was extremely grateful for the SRNAs’ honest portrayal of the rigorous program. Despite hearing the students confess they sweat blood in the program and having it be the hardest thing they have ever done, every student that I spoke with also said that it was an awesome experience that is well worth the hard work. Again, I just wanted to thank you for this experience and I hope to come back and visit you soon in the very near future.

Sincerely,
Chi D. Huynh
SN, CSULB

The second letter comes from Lisa and reveals her strong desire to pursue graduate level studies. What is important for these nursing students is to have a goal. It is very difficult to reach for such a difficult level of practice such as Nurse Anesthesia so it takes a lot of motivation and time to achieve. These visits and shadow experiences hopefully will provide incentive to keep them driving on through to the next several levels.

Dear David,

It was a genuine pleasure meeting you, Kari, Jim, Karen, Stephanie, JR, Diane, and Hill yesterday. From the very get-go, the CRNAs and SRNAs were warm and welcoming – even with the many questions my classmates and I had!

You patiently and thoroughly answered my questions about USC’s CRNA program, and I greatly appreciated the valuable information and advice you gave me. From the different experiences I would get at a surgical vs. medical ICU and contacting Alice a nurse manager at UCLA; to reading Paul Marino’s “The ICU Book” for preparation as an ICU nurse, I feel more informed in setting up a strong pathway to CRNA school.

What still amazes me about my CRNA shadow experience was not just how knowledgeable and intelligent the CRNA and SRNAs were, but also how supportive and enthusiastic everyone was about our interest in the nurse anesthetist profession. Even at 0530 hours, Kari was excited about us being there and shared different CRNA books and websites to further our knowledge. JR, Stephanie, and Diane (the SRNAs who walked us over for the anesthesia residents’ presentations) were so willing to provide thorough and honest advice about getting into a rigorous CRNA program and also what made them excited to be a part of USC. Also, the morning conference presentations confirmed to us the high level of research and involvement in the anesthesia department at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine. We were impressed with the involvement and encouragement of the CRNAs and SRNAs in the department of anesthesia.

Later on in the OR both Jim and Karen were simultaneously focused on teaching their respective SRNAs as well as us observers; I am still excited about seeing my first carina via the fiber optic! How awesome is that!

Thank you again for an experience that has further solidified my decision to pursue the CRNA profession. And if it is OK with you, I hope to keep in touch for advice on my journey to “CRNA-dom.”

Sincerely,

Lisa Chong
CSULB SN

In the future I am hoping that there will be more opportunity for others to come and visit us. If there are those that would like this experience I encourage you to call the LAC-USC anesthesia department office at (323) 226-4597. Ask for Kari is the best bet and tell here I sent you. I’m sure she will appreciate that!

Till next time keep focused on your goals and pay attention to all of the messages you receive. There may be a key somewhere in there that will open the next door.

David

What amazed me the most about the interviews were the surprises that I found in the potential students that were interviewed this past week. Some of people that looked great on paper were marginal face-to-face or just plan incongruous with their written profile. Other candidates that looked to have just an acceptable ICU experience on paper were absolutely fabulous in person with knowledge presence and charisma. As one of the seasoned faculty members reasoned with me, “You will find clear examples of candidates that will fit with our program perfectly and others that do not fit at all. The trouble comes in the middle and that’s where the debates will come among the faculty members each championing their personal favorites for those last remaining few spots.” Hmmmmm, I am thinking now that there is more than enough truth in this. We will all decide together which candidates will be best for our program in the class starting in this fall. There are several more interviewing days and many more candidates to see so its back to work reading and thinking about what it is that makes a candidate for a Nurse Anesthesia Program shine.

In these past few days I have been pondering this question. What makes a candidate perfect for Nurse Anesthesia? This kismet for the candidates has been occupying my mind for more than this past week. Personally I have spent years positioning myself to do well in preparation for anesthesia practice and now as a faculty member in a great teaching institution I am challenged to keep growing and setting the standard for the students and potential students to rise to. That is why I write now dear reader to tell you what it takes to prepare for Nurse Anesthesia School and eventual Nurse Anesthesia practice. This is no small undertaking. If you will allow me to share with you both personal and professional opinions about “getting in and doing well” in the profession of Nurse Anesthesia practice you will note that these are my opinions and do not represent any official word from any program. Also, please take into consideration that what I have to share with you may apply to your personal situation or it may not. Finally, take these suggestions a grain of humor in the middle of your struggles to rise to something new in your nursing practice.

First, you must know that I am on your side and want all of you to succeed and shine in your chosen field of Nurse Anesthesia Practice. Knowing that, you have to understand that not all will reach these goals. This is painful for many I know. It has taken me a long time to attain my own personal goals so I am very sympathetic with those that have a vision of what they want to do and become, a vision that at times seams so far away and unreachable.

First, you must have a “Fire In the Belly” to come to nurse anesthesia practice. Simply put, you must have an overwhelming desire to do this or you will not have the energy or stamina to complete the journey. This is a personal characteristic that I have seen in all successful candidates that enter into anesthesia study as a nurse. The competition is huge on all sides and the determination to prevail is required. So right now ask yourself, “Am I up to this. Do I have enough inner drive to get me over all of the hurtles that will be in the path?” If you just take a self-check now and measure your pulse you will know. Are you getting excited yet? If not then maybe you should just settle for another area of practice. Nurse Anesthesia is not for everyone and as you will see the road does get narrow. So motivation is the first requirement. Desire to put this goal first are really important. Motivation is one of the things that we look for in potential candidates for our program; so ask yourself, “Do you have enough”? This is a personal characteristic you can do something about. Motivation comes from inside of you and does not depend on how old you are, how young, what color, ethic background, religion you follow or any of that stuff. None of those external trappings matter. What matters comes from inside; its what will drive you to excel and shine as a nurse anesthetist.

My second suggestion is reasonable as well. Do you have the required clinical background that will ensure your success in a nurse anesthesia program and are you willing to change jobs, move or do what ever necessary to get the best experience before entering graduate education in a nurse anesthesia program? This links the motivation to where you are now. Maybe you are in a very comfortable community hospital ICU that has sick patients but most of them are of the garden variety. Are you getting the experience in your present work place that is needed for you to be successful in Nurse Anesthesia School? Additionally, how long have you been working in an intensive care setting? The minimum requirement set by the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) is 1 year of ICU experience. Often I find that this is simply not enough for the average candidate coming in to our program. We encourage more than the minimum and based on the individual often this will require more than two years. This is not always the case and occasionally there are those that through extreme effort and desire will get the experience and knowledge in one and a half years or so before coming into anesthesia training. During the interviews this past week there was one such individual that really shined with a year and a half in the ICU but for most candidates it requires more time. So question number two asks you if you have a good enough experience before planning a career in anesthesia. If you do not think your experience is very strong, trust me your interviews will not think so. I encourage you to look for an academic Teaching Hospital where you can really ramp up your skills. For those candidates that come to us with all of the right stuff but lack enough clinical experience we set goals together and require the CCRN certificate before they reapply for the following year.

Academic preparation is always required. Our program requires coursework that other programs may not require. We require a college physics course as well as the Graduate Entrance Exam which other programs may not ask for. Based on the program that you plan on attending it makes sense to contact them directly and find out what the individual requirements are for the school that you want to attend. Planning and preparation are really important. Get all of, “your ducks in a row” as they say! Find out what your program requires in the way of course work and finish it all up. One way you can do this is to go to the AANA web site and look up the programs in your area or where you want to go to school for their individual requirements. All of the top programs have web sites that you can peruse. You can examine their prerequisites and evaluate their programs to see if they are a fit for you. These are tangible things you can do to minimize your stress. Find out exactly what you have to do and your chances of success will go up. This makes sense.

Perhaps you took organic chemistry a few years ago and were preoccupied with working and personal relationships and you did not do well in the course. You can take it again and improve your grades. Often we find that students did not do well in their undergraduate studies for any number of reasons. Now a couple of years later you have new goals and are motivated to get into graduate study. You can now go back and take a couple of science courses, do well and demonstrate that you are focused and ready for the academic rigor of anesthesia didactic. These are things that you can do to improve your chances of getting in and improve your ability to do well once you are studying more advance topics that require a strong basic science base. I will refer you back to requirement number one, “Do you have the Fire” to do what you have to do?

There are several other things you can do to improve your chances of getting in to your program of choice. Most of these are personal interview and follow through skills that we can comment on in other editions of the Nurse Anesthetist Blog. For now I wish all of you great success and the strength of perseverance to reach your goals. If there is any thing that I can do for any one of you just drop me a note in the comment section.

Why I think year ICU experience isn’t enough by “There, I Said It”.

I am a Nurse Anesthetist and a Clinical Instructor of Anesthesiology at a large metropolitan teaching institution.

I have been a clinical instructor for some years, and have seen many students come and go. We have so many applicants to our program, and each time the interviewing process becomes more and more difficult, as each applicant appears to be cream of the crop. The difficult decisions as to who will be accepted into the program come from a comprehensive process that involves input from many individuals of varying levels of practice; from student nurse anesthetists to department chairs.

According to the AANA, requirements for admission to an accredited program of nurse anesthesia include a minimum of 1 year of acute care experience, such as in ICU or ER. Herein lies my beef. Applicants or students who think 1 year of acute care experience is enough to perform at an acceptable level, in my view, are sorely mistaken. I feel this requirement should be changed. Can one truly master the art of ICU or ER nursing in 1 year?? Is a year enough time to glean an adequate level of skills or experience in adult critical care or ER nursing? After one year, can you throw up epi, levophed, dobutamine, dopamine, nitro, etc. and truly be comfortable with what you are doing?? Do you think you’ll be able to insert a swan and know what in the hell you’re doing? How much code experience occurs over 1 year? Is a year time enough to mature the development of interpersonal relationships with other members of the health care team much less the patient? Ask yourself these questions and I bet your answer will be no, no and no!

The students who have slithered through the interview process with what looks good on paper but have never been realized in practice have a hell of a time in residency. The clinical instructor has to work overtime to protect the patient from the student. I daresay there are those individuals that just have met the minimal requirements and are truly stellar students. However, these are few and far between.

I suggest the minimal requirement in an acute care setting be increased to at least 3 years. Applicants, if you barely have the minimal requirements for admission, ask yourself if you truly have enough experience to entertain delivering anesthesia care to an elderly individual with an aortic aneurysm, a child with epiglottitis, or an individual with multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen.

Signed,

There, I Said It

Your graduation is approaching rapidly. If you have not done so already, get together as a class soon and get some ideas going for a graduation celebration. Each of you will need to pitch in and assign yourself to a committee.

If you need to do a fundraiser, I highly recommend the USC Anesthesia sweatshirt, t-shirt, and hat sales from last year’s class. Thanks to the 2005 grads, you have a nest egg to start up a project such as this. Besides, there a number of people asking for these items, both local and international!!!

Let me know what you think.

Kari

May you always do for others and let others do for you.

Bob Dylan

Hey David, here is a funny story,

As student nurse anesthetists we are fortunate to have some common sense especially since we have some critical care background and have actually touched patients. Anesthesia physician residents often do not have this luxury. They get thrown into an operating room because they have graduated form medical school and are expected to perform. While SRNAs are guided on how do things should be done in the operating room for a long time.

Recently I heard a story about a M.D. resident that was interesting. The surgical case involved a patient scheduled for a total knee replacement with an epidural catheter and an Laryngeal Mask Airway (LMA). A Nurse Anesthetist enters the OR to send the physician on a break. The patient is breathing 38 breaths per minute and chewing on the endotracheal tube. The physician states, “Oh that’s new this must have just started”. Propofol is then slammed intravenously and B/P drops precipitously and then the low blood pressure is then chased with ephedrine trying to bring the blood pressure back up.

There is a lesson to be learned here. You can’t blame the physician resident because many times when they are new in their training they do not have sufficient oversight. The patient obviously needed something other than slamming propofol – possibly a dose of narcotic and not hypnosis. The epidural was infusing but did the patient get a loading dose up front? These things may all effect how the patient was tolerating the surgery. What I have seen clinically is that when epidurals catheters are working well you need far less opioids and less volatile agent as the MAC is lowered. These patients usually wake up very comfortable.

The morale of the story is to feel good about the education that we receive as nurse anesthetists and feel proud to be apart of this prestigious profession of Nurse Anesthesia. Remember that 65% of all rural anesthesia is given by Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNA’s). Some day you might be taking care of me or my loved one and I want the best and most competent anesthetist on the job.

Jo

At first I glanced over this note from Jo and scribble a few notes to myself while reviewing the many interactions that I have had with residents. Jo is a dear friend of mine – however I find that her reasoning incomplete. At least there is more here that is bothering me that I can not mine fully. She states correctly that patients with epidural catheters require lower MAC and less opioids then proceeds to disparage the hypnotic and suggest that the patient needs additional opioids? I began thinking that the idea of giving more opioid for a light patient is the wrong choice and her criticism of the resident could take a different slant. For me the propofol is not a wrong option but the lack of vigilance by the resident deserves comment. So ran my thoughts. To confirm my suspicions I ran off a note to a friend, we’ll call him ‘John’, a long time anesthetist back East. I was dealing with the trees and not the forest. My thoughts continued at that time this way:

John,

I was not there in the OR and all of this is second hand information but an interesting discussion about CRNA SRNA and Resident relations mainly. We all have our prejudices I guess. For me the physicians do just fine and receive extensive training. At times in the beginning of their training there may be things that happen that are not the best practice. Who is to say that Student Nurse Anesthetists do better really? Personally I do not find it profitable to compare providers but to look for a best practice regardless of the practitioner. John, I thought you might get a kick out of this story and look forward to your comments on the scenario. Hope all is well with you and that your scheduled surgery goes well. I am wishing you all the best from Los Angeles.

David.

The response I received back has been lingering in my mind for the past few days. When I started the NurseAnesthetist.org/ web site my goal was to try to put together something with content that would be both instructive and entertaining while showing what it is like to be a nurse anesthetist student. John goes beyond my expectations.

Hi, David

I have many thoughts tumbling through my head at this stage of my career. As to the story your friend related, I find your take on it to be the more reasoned. Yes, the average SRNA is probably much more oriented to the care of the patient, by virtue of the nursing background. This stereotypical SRNA is also more clinically astute because s/he’s been on the front lines, watching actual patients get better or get worse and die, so s/he has earned to look at everything, make no assumptions, and always to keep that “sixth sense” activated whenever s/he is responsible for a patient. Those hard-earned lessons from the ICU on a 12-hour night shift do stand the SRNA in good stead.

And it’s probably true that the average MD trainee at whatever stage of her/his training is probably less experienced and clinically seasoned; more educated in basic sciences than the average RN (notice I said “more” educated which doesn’t necessarily equate to “better” educated). But a friend of mine long ago put it this way: “Good nurses know a lot about medicine while good doctors know a lot about nursing”. When I look back to the people who had the most influence on my developing anesthesia career (and it’s STILL developing) I find nurses who took it upon themselves to be very educated (and very WELL educated) and physicians who had that common sense and humanitarianism that is stereotypically viewed as the hallmark of nursing. What each had in common was a curiosity that motivated their learning, a humility that taught them that their learning would never end, and an empathy for the suffering patient who was at once her/his sacred responsibility and greatest teacher. The other thing they had in common was my enduring respect; you see, I’ve seen callous CRNAs and empathetic and truly altruistic physicians. We must be careful not to be guilty of that error which we decry in others: judging an individual by the letters behind the name and not the character attached to the person.

As to your friend’s assessment of what was needed, we all know that anesthesia is a complex specialty. From first principles, the patient should never have been allowed to come to such a state, under the care of an anesthesia provider, that the patient was chewing the tube and breathing 38 breaths per minute. The rescue of the patient from that unacceptable state can take many forms, some better than others. The bolus of propofol was a “fast” answer. Fast is important, but one must be careful not to overshoot lest one have to engage in the “dueling drugs” scenario as your friend described chasing blood pressures all over the place. You made another astute observation: “I wasn’t there…” This is a very mature approach to analyzing anecdotes about cases; you know that not everything that happens can be reduced to marks on an anesthesia record, and that even the most careful observer is biased to some extent.

I have a feeling that neither you nor your friend would have gotten yourself into the situation of needing to rescue the patient from inadequate anesthesia. In a couple of jobs I’ve had in the past, we’ve had trainees rotating through the anesthesia department. Now, I’m always careful about generalizations, and the following observation is given with the very large caveat that generalizations are poor tools to explain things. That said, I noticed that there were in general two “styles” exhibited by anesthesia trainees. One style was more “high tech” and the other more “high touch”.

One manifestation of this was the manner in which the trainee monitored the patient. Some stood with their backs to the patient and watched a bank of monitors. These tended to miss things that a more experienced onlooker would see evolving before they manifested themselves on the monitors. These were the “high tech” ones. Many were very intelligent — far more so than I — and usually more educated as well. As a generalization, these were doctors. Others gave their primary attention to the patient, and looked to monitors as a secondary information source, to validate their clinical impression of the evolving anesthetic. Most of their time was spent seated or standing in close proximity to the patient, their backs to the monitors. Sure, this has elements of a false dichotomy, but by and large, these latter were nurses. They didn’t treat numbers, they treated patients. And they usually “picked up” things before the “things” became “problems”.

Sometimes the “high touch” crowd couldn’t even characterize what it was that was about to go wrong. Usually the “high tech” ones could recite the “book learning” about what had just gone wrong. If you haven’t found this out already, in anesthesia it is frequently the case that we are too smart too late. You’ll also know the daily reality of something I once read: Most great discoveries are presaged not by the exclamation “Eureka!” but by “Gee. That’s strange….”

The only good thing that came out of Jo’s experience is that you are talking and thinking about it and learning from it. The occurrence of inadequate anesthesia in this patient — the failure of our specialty, the patient’s trust betrayed — became, if you will, a “chance experiment” in the laboratory that is your learning. No Institutional Review Board would ever have approved of the situation into which this patient had been allowed to deteriorate, even for the pragmatic good of your learning. But it happened. Remember, “stercus contingit”. You have been handed a learning opportunity, purchased at a very high price by your patient. Learn from it, get all you can out of it. And, as you progress in your career and teach others, remember the debt you owe to that patient, in whose care an error was made, allowing you to learn from the remediation — and yes, even the “cover up” — of the error.

Here is where I have a huge problem with many physicians with whom I’ve worked. There’s an attitude of entitlement. “I earned this degree. I got out of training with six figures of student debt. I am owed”. No. Wrong, wrong, wrong. They are who they are, they know what they know, and they have what they have, because of an unending string of patients who held still for their first clumsy attempts at the laying on of hands, who suffered at their mistakes as they repeated lab tests and painful procedures, who died at their imperfect hands — at all of our imperfect hands. David, I submit to you that this is a debt that can NEVER be repaid; the currency to satisfy such a debt has never been minted, nor could it be.

I recently had a physician make some comments to me in passing. I think he meant to encourage me; I’m not sure. He commented on my skill at regional anesthesia, especially in the massively obese parturient with whom we’d just dealt successfully. I described how I’d evolved in my skill to a peak several years ago, and how I’ve had to refine my skills as my senses and strengths change. I used to palpate everything, and my sense of touch was my paramount one. As I age, my tactile sensation has diminished, and I rely more on vision. And even that is failing as I approach my seventh decade of life. But I continue and I do my job well and carefully. He expressed surprise when I told him how old I am — that surprises everyone because I’m blessed with a youthful appearance. Then he told me that he doesn’t intend to work past the age of sixty, not at all while I intend to work until it would no longer be safe for my patients for me to continue to do so. I’ll know when that is, and a carefully selected group of people with whom I work will validate that judgment. Only then will I pursue a lesser career, and I will leave with reluctance and with regret for that huge unpaid debt, with gratitude for every patient who has taught me what I know. For now, CRNA doesn’t describe so much what I do as who I am.

PS: My surgery has been put off until the 22 of this month. Several things have to be in place for it to take place, one of which is some sort of fibrin glue to be used in the repair. I am blessed to have tissue that doesn’t act its age, and a “sports medicine” orthopedist who normally limits his practice to athletic injuries in genuine athletes. He’s agreed to apply his skills for an old man who fell on the ice, whose “athletic” prowess is confined to paddling canoes and kayaks to photogenic places, or slogging along on a mountain bike or cross-country skis to places that aren’t crowded, and whose major competition is against entropy — and gravity. His method includes aggressive rehabilitation. It will return me to my “playing field” sooner, and ease the overwork my absence will impose on my partner and our already thinly-stretched locums. That’s important to me.

Thanks for your kind good wishes. I’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, work is busy, and that’s great therapy.

David,

Berny

Berny is a friend of mine from UCLA that I have been encouraging to pursue a career in nurse anesthesia. We worked together in the cardio-thoracic ICU for a couple of years before I jumped ship and trapped off to school at USC – the cross town rival.

Congratulations Bernadette on your acceptance to the University of Buffalo and their great nurse anesthesia program. You will love it there I am sure. Josette, another contributor here at NurseAnesthetist.org has is a student at Buffalo and will show you the ropes at Buffalo. Good luck and continue to study hard. It is all so worth it.

I am so happy for Bernadette. Good for her. You see if Berny and I can get into school after lots of hard work and preparation, those with enough determination and desire will succeed. Again, congratulations to Berny on being accepted into anesthesia school at the University of Buffalo.

One of the great things about going across the country for this kind of review course is that you run into old friends. Josette was here in Ohio for the review course. You may recall that she is from the nurse anesthesia program at Buffalo New York. It was so great to see her and meet her friends from their program. I did not take too many pictures while at the Review Course but what I have is uploaded to flickr.

Four of us from the University of Southern California along with another one hundred and fifty some odd other graduating students sat, studied and listened to the lectures and presentation given at the Marriott Airport Hotel in Cleveland Ohio this past weekend. Todd, Elisha Christy and I traveled together from Los Angeles to Ohio this past Thursday for the review course. The presentation of the review material was excellent and gave us all a plan of action for studying for the certification exam that will come up for us in another 9 or 10 months or so. That is plenty of time to get a really good handle on all of this material. The amount of information is exhaustive and is the summation of years of studying.

The best story I heard this weekend was about this Navy guy taking the review course with us. After completing his two and a half year program and thousands hours of clinical it all comes down to this one comprehensive exam. If he does not pass on the first try the US Military will ship him out to the front lines as a staff RN. OH MY GOD, can you imagine that pressure. At least we can get a second shot at the certification exam if we do not pass it the first time. Well, we will all pass and go on with our careers so that is not even an option. However, how would you like that kind of pressure on you after several intense years of studying……pass this exam son or to the front lines with you for two years. Actually, it’s not a problem.

Elisha and DG have been getting up at O’Dark thirty every morning to get our seats in the conference room. The first morning I got into the great hall which was almost as dark as the outside landscape here in Ohio to see a figure way down in front huddled over her books preparing for the start of the day. I thought that I was nuts to get there so early but I guess Elisha and I are of the same mind. You know, “The Early Bird………..catches the worm.”