[movinsouth]

Hi,
I will be graduating in December and am planning to move to a specific area (back home). I have been job searching for quite some time now and am finding a lot of hospitals that are "All CRNA" groups with no MDAs. These are hospitals around a metropolitan area. I would love to return to the hospital that I worked at as an RN (MDAs and CRNAs-more supervised), however they are not hiring at this time. I am wondering if I should even consider working in an all CRNA group as a new grad. There are a couple of small hospitals with 1 or 2 MDAs, but I would take call on my own. I'm really struggling with what to do. I had hoped that I would already have a job by this time. Any advice???

[Businessman]

From a professional point of view, you should be fine, as the school prepares you to work on your own in most situations.
When it comes to choosing a place to work, other criteria might have some weight:
- culture of the group
- hours of work (coverage)
- types of cases (mostly OB, mostly peds, mostly hearts, etc)

Working along MDA's can be a very different experience, depending on the MDA's: if they want to be at intubation and extubation 100% of time, it shows a desire to control the CRNA's most of the time. Other MDA's will just tell you to go in and call them if you need help with something ...

Good luck

[movinsouth]

Thanks a lot for the insight! It really is amazing how anesthesia groups differ from each other so drastically (their culture). I hope I find the right fit for me!

[catcolalex]

Dont you think that the other CRNA's in an all-crna practice could provide back-up just as the MDA's would?

[movinsouth]

Absolutely, if the practice is set up such that one CRNA is circulating. It is really not about MDA/CRNA abilities, but more about having someone available if I need help. If everyone is in a room and busy with a case, it is much different than if an MDA is circulating between 2-4 rooms. Also, in an all CRNA group, I would be on my own during call.

[Outdoor1]

Originally Posted by movinsouth

Absolutely, if the practice is set up such that one CRNA is circulating. It is really not about MDA/CRNA abilities, but more about having someone available if I need help. If everyone is in a room and busy with a case, it is much different than if an MDA is circulating between 2-4 rooms. Also, in an all CRNA group, I would be on my own during call.

It has been my experience so far that there is always help available if anyone needs help. Think about it, most of us are adrenaline junkies and if we hear someone is in trouble we all go running. I don't think that you would be expected to take call your first week or anything, but that is somethign you should talk about before taking a position anywhere. We have a new MD on our staff and he isn't even taking call (and it's 2nd call) for the first month. Hope it helps.