Happy CRNA Week, what did you get?

allnurses Guide · Jan 28, 2017

So admittedly I'm only in CRNA school so I only get to pat myself on half my back but I'm all for free stuff. Sadly I've only gotten an email from the AANA to celebrate this week.
My question is what have you guys gotten to celebrate or commemorate this week? Mostly I'm asking in hopes that in a couple years I'll finally get that free mug that says "I Heart CRNAs" from my work and it'll validate my career.

There is a FB forum for CRNAs and SRNAs, and everyone seems to have gotten some kind of cake or food this week to celebrate. We just did a pizza party this year at work. Depending on if I am still the chief next year I might do something like mugs or some handmade pens.

offlabel · Jan 28, 2017

Grump alert...house keepers and CNA's get "weeks". For folks like that, what they actually do day to day and what they are paid are pretty discordant and they're pretty much invisible and for the most part dismissed as peripheral help.

I don't need or want a week. I get paid a lot of money to do what I do and putting a price on the professional satisfaction I derive is impossible. The deference I receive from the medical staff exceeds that of some physicians at the same hospital system. I get enough "stuff" without having to thump my chest and call meaningless attention to myself for the sake of aggrandizement.

Keep the cake.

allnurses Guide · Jan 28, 2017

Grump alert...house keepers and CNA's get "weeks". For folks like that, what they actually do day to day and what they are paid are pretty discordant and they're pretty much invisible and for the most part dismissed as peripheral help.
I don't need or want a week. I get paid a lot of money to do what I do and putting a price on the professional satisfaction I derive is impossible. The deference I receive from the medical staff exceeds that of some physicians at the same hospital system. I get enough "stuff" without having to thump my chest and call meaningless attention to myself for the sake of aggrandizement.
Keep the cake.

Boo..lol

When everyone including patients realize that CRNAs do the majority of the anesthetics and don't need to work with supervision or direction then IMHO we can stop having CRNA week. This week is supposed to be about educating people about what we do, which is why the AANA has all the informational material you can get. I failed at that this year, but free food provided to the whole OR was a good way to boost morale. We did provide lunch for everyone in the OR and everyone in the OR I think had a good time.

Bluebolt · Jan 28, 2017

I agree with wtbcrna. Of course, CRNAs get paid more than most other careers out there and well above the average salary of an American. The week is not about giving us a cake because we're so strapped we get excited for free cake. It's about awareness. As I'm explaining what I'm studying in school to the average friend/family I'm shocked at how few know any real information about CRNAs. In fact, some have a belief that I'm studying to be an assistant to an anesthesiologist or that I chose this path because I couldn't make it as an anesthesiologist. There is a lot of awareness and education needed to the general populace. So why not have a week in the calendar that encourages hospitals and co-workers to buy mugs, pens, cakes, pizza, make posts on social media, etc.

offlabel · Jan 29, 2017

. We did provide lunch for everyone in the OR and everyone in the OR I think had a good time.

OK, I'll buy that. If the CRNA's are buying lunch for the crew during CRNA week, that is legit, IMHO.

offlabel · Jan 29, 2017

Because it's cheap, dismissive and unprofessional. When is the last time you saw CT surgeons pushing pens, mugs and pizza? Ugh....spare me.

Bluebolt · Jan 29, 2017

Well Off-label, the sad fact about why you don't see surgeons getting mugs and cakes is because they usually get the recognition and special treatment every day. Each day is surgeons day for them. It's not right but it's the current situation in healthcare. Let's bring awareness and change that, then we won't need a week to remind people who we are.

offlabel · Jan 29, 2017

First off, I said "grump alert"...Secondly, what I object to is being reduced to pens, mugs and cakes when I honestly don't need to remind anyone of who I am or what I do. I regret that so many feel they do. The snickers and guffaws from the OR nurses as we celebrate our "week" come from watching us park our nice cars in the medical staff parking lot steps away from the hospital while they trudge a half mile through the snow from their parking area. Sales reps buy us lunch all the time while they're burning out the microwaves in their break rooms. Surgeons speak to us on a friendly first name basis and to them like hired help.

Rings a little empty when we hand out pens and stickers and cry our crocodile tears.

Bluebolt · Jan 29, 2017

First off, I said "grump alert"...Secondly, what I object to is being reduced to pens, mugs and cakes when I honestly don't need to remind anyone of who I am or what I do. I regret that so many feel they do. The snickers and guffaws from the OR nurses as we celebrate our "week" come from watching us park our nice cars in the medical staff parking lot steps away from the hospital while they trudge a half mile through the snow from their parking area. Sales reps buy us lunch all the time while they're burning out the microwaves in their break rooms. Surgeons speak to us on a friendly first name basis and to them like hired help.
Rings a little empty when we hand out pens and stickers and cry our crocodile tears.

I agree with the points you're making about CRNAs being rockstars in the OR and surgical suites. Anybody who has worked as a tech or nurse in these areas know the pedestal they are put on. I'm not debating that CRNAs have it good in their environment.

What I'm talking about is awareness outside the OR. You get into a taxi cab and they ask you what you do, why is it that if you say, anesthesiologist, it will be met with recognition and respect but when you say CRNA the response is confusion. I spend an abnormal amount of time explaining to people what CRNA stands for let alone what they do. Considering we are the primary providers of anesthesia in rural America and deliver most of the anesthesia in America that is ridiculous.

I know it seems idealistic but as a student going through the agony of this doctorate CRNA program, the years of preparation to be competitive enough to get admitted, the years of the difficult BSN degree, the ICU experience required, The nearly $200,000 debt that I'll be in from the program, I'm thinking we deserve to be recognized for our work and skill.

Double-Helix, BSN, RN · Feb 8, 2017

As a sedation/PACU nurse, CRNA's are freaking amazing. I would trust most of them with my child to the degree that I trust most of our anesthesiologists, and more so for some of them. You all deserve the cake and (recognition that the cake implies) every single day. At least give us a week out of the entire year that we can give it to you.