amiandjim

We have 9 operating rooms in our main hospital and four in our ambulatory surgery center. In the main, we generally have 15 minute turnover (at least, that is goal) and we do pretty well, I think. Our enviromental services staff and our anesthesia techs do a great job facilitating this. In addition, our OR staff is always willing to jump in and help clean the room so we can turnover more quickly. In our ASC, our turnover is 5 minutes, with very few exceptions. We do not have cleaning staff or anesthesia techs over there so it is just team work that gets it done.

In the spontaneously breathing patient, opiates cause a decrease in respiratory rate with an increase in tidal volume. Unless your patients that are intubated are on SIMV or PSV and breathing on their own, opiates shouldn't alter their respiratory pattern. Now, if they are breathing on their own with just ventilatory support, yes, they will take larger volumes at a slower rate.

There are no CRNA schools in Indiana b/c it has traditionally been a fairly CRNA "unfriendly" state. However, you can practice in Indiana as a CRNA and there are quite a few jobs available (go look at gaswork.com sometime). I think there are something like 200 CRNAs working in Indiana right now, but who knows what the future will hold. With reimbursement decreasing and healthcare costs increasing, I would imagine that more and more hospitals will look into CRNAs as opposed to the all MD model that many of them use now. The incoming AANA president is a CRNA from Indianapolis who does pain management for a neurosurgery group, as well as works OB in one of the smaller hospitals in Indianapolis.

Brian, I keep trying to reply to you but for some reason, there is no button that says reply (wierd, huh). Can you just pm me your e-mail address and I will answer your questions that way....I'm so sorry it has taken so long to get back to you...I read your first message a long time ago and completely forgot about it! Anyway, just send me another pm b/c either I am stupid or my pm box is acting wierd. Ami P.S....sorry to hijack the thread guys.

I pretty much get all of my patients back breathing as soon as it is feasible (after relaxation no longer required, etc...). I like to use SIMV or PS at first, then let them breathe spontaneously. While they are breathing, I titrate my narcotic of choice to achieve a respiratory rate of about 6-10. I have found that if the patient is comfortable and has enough narcotic on board, they tend to wake up much more smoothly.

I understand that it might have been scary for you that the patient had to be converted to a general, but I would not call "no pre-oxygenation" a lapse in safety. The anesthesia provider was likely trying to get the patient to sleep ASAP and didn't have time to pre-oxygenate. Yes, pre-oxygenation buys you more time for apnea if you have airway difficulty, but it isn't a lapse in safety if it doesn't occur.

I don't know about that! I moved to go to anesthesia school and we moved about 4 months early b/c my hubby got a job. I took a travel assignment and I go some pretty crappy assignments. There were several nurses there who had tried to get in and hadn't or wanted to apply and were scared and they did not treat me well when they found out I was going to anesthesia school (I didn't tell them, the manager did)! On the other hand, the nurses on my unit where I had worked were very happy for me and treated me wonderfully when I got accepted. So, I think it can be go either way. I just wouldn't tell them until you have to.

I am going to assume you are talking about CRNA results...not NCLEX. I took mine today as well and it also shut off at 100 and so did my 3 classmates who took it with me. I do know one person who got the minimum last year and failed, but I don't think it is super common. Unfortunately, there is no way to get faster results so we just have to sit at home and wait for the fed-ex truck!!! Good luck!

I'm not sure what the least expensive program is but I know that the Mayo program is really cheap, I think it's less than $10,000 for the whole program.

Yes, the role of the CRNA/anesthesia provider in organ donation is to keep the patient alive and to keep the organs healthy. Typically, the only anesthetic medication given to the patient is muscle relaxant to make it easier to make an abdominal incision/harvest the organs. The CRNA maintains the gtts the patient is on, as well as administers other medications to maintain hemodynamics. In the one organ harvest I have done as an anesthesia student, the patient coded as soon as incision was made. We began CPR, gave epi and then quickly gave heparin so the aorta could be cross-clamped. Once the aorta was clamped, we turned of the anesthesia machine and left the OR. It was a very strange feeling.

Bryan, The metropolitan rate applies to students who live in certain counties in Kentucky, such as Boone County. If you move to Ohio and your wife has a job, you should qualify for in-state tuition. Answers to your other questions are below in bold. Ami

Bryan, It sounds like you have had great experience and really well prepared for anesthesia school. Although working in the OR won't help with the actual clinical skills, I think being familiar with the whole OR dynamic is a great advantage. As far as the GRE, over 1000 should be enough to get you in if you do well on the interview. I can tell you that I have one classmate who got around 1000 at first and then after she was accepted to the program, she studied and retook the GRE to try to qualify for scholarships (which she did). I think that is always an option b/c that money really helps out. As far as childcare near campus is concerned, I haven't really looked into it but surely there is something. I know Cincinnati Children's has a daycare but I think?? it is only for employees. The Hyde Park area is a nice area near campus (maybe 10 minutes) that I'm sure has childcare but might be a little more expensive than other areas. As far as your other questions, I answered them below in bold. Hope this info is helpful! Let me know if you have other questions. Ami I'm not sure about that. I do know that a couple of my classmates are in the reserves and do get money for school but I'm not sure how much. I can ask them this week though.

Bryan, My answers are below in bold. Hope this helps....I don't mind to answer any others you may have. Ami

Bryan, Congrats on the interview. I am happy to answer any questions you have. 1) They sent out 59 interview invites and they typically accept about 24-28. 2) I would give the ICU test about a 5ish. If you have taken the CCRN, it shouldn't be too bad (at least the version I took a couple years ago). There were a coupe questions I remember not knowing but it's pretty standard ICU stuff. 3) As far as parking, for the program you park in Eden Garage, which is not a problem but is expensive. For a quarter, a permit for the top floor is about $110 and for the other levels, it is twice that. My hubby dropped me off on interview day so I didn't park, but you should be able to park in either the Eden or Goodman garage with no problem. I'm not sure if you can get it validated or not though. 4) I honestly don't think they do. I really think that all candidates that get an interview are qualified and a big portion comes down to that. We have people in our class that had a 4.0 and 1300 on the GRE and also some who had a 3.0 or a 950 on the GRE (although they have since insituted a minimum cut-off of 1000). I think in the interview, they are really looking for people who are calm, professional, and really interested in becoming a CRNA. Be sure you know what a CRNA really is and why you want to be one. Hope that helps. Let me know if you have other questions.

I am a senior in the UC program and I know they have been reviewing applications for the last couple weeks and yes, I would think interviews would go out pretty soon. I just wanted to say good luck with the whole process and let me know if you have any questions.