reded

Bread angel, Three years out of school I volunteered for three months at a hospital in Georgetown, Guyana. then in the 90's I spent 2 weeks a year for 10 years in a small out of the way hamlet in Haiti. Replicate that and then lecture me about money and gas! As stated earlier.. Lighten up. We're nurses who put the effort in to enter a more challenging specialty. We're not Supreme Court Justices. Ed

Kings County School on Anesthesia for Nurses, Brooklyn New York graduate 1986. If that makes me a "noob" , so be it. In my view that's a lot of gas passing. RedEd

Then there is the issue of gas! Sitting on the tip of the suction does a remarkable job eliminating the vapors. Have used it many times and I don't even detect it. Ed

The Hospital in Georgetown, Guyana is St. Joseph's Mercy Hospital on Parade Street. The only caveat is you don't get paid. RedEd

Shadow him to see what the job is like but don't be discouraged by his schedule. I've been doing this for about 25 years and have managed to game the system schedule wise for probably 20 of them. Schedule has always meant more to me than money but I still made a fine buck. The fact that I lived and worked in Manhatten probably helped as rural work usually requires more call from what I gather. Ed

I feel absolutely no loss of opportunities for interactions with patients. When you talk to a patient in the holding area you 're often dealing with an anxious individual that is just waiting to be reassured. This is a time when your compassion and humor come into play. Most practitioners have their spiel that they give most patients, little things like when I ask a patient if they smoke and they say no I tell them "OK we want you to start smoking on Monday". Things like that. Looking them right in the eye and telling them you are going to take good care of them and will sedate them almost before their head hits the pillow. It never occurs to me that I am missing something regarding interactions with patients. When you bring them into the PACU and their comfortable with no recall of anything unpleasant, they thank you. You brought them through a trying time unscathed and they are grateful. It's a great line of work. Ed

CRNAs can practice independently etc,etc,etc. The bottom line is my experience over the last 23 years is supervision by an MD everywhere I worked except for Haiti and Guyana. Sometimes it's one on one sometimes it's three on one. Sometimes they're there for induction often they're not. It depends on how busy things are and they're confidence in you abilities to work alone. It would be nice if they would see the next patient if you are in a busy room. Often you see the patient, tell the attending about them and do the case with the attending available if needed. My experience has been in NYC and suburbs. I've gamed the system schedule-wise my entire career and that would be less likely were I some sort of independent practitioner. It's also nice to walk out of work at the end of the day and not have to worry about the bussiness end. Hard work and lifestyle is my credo. ED

I started reading this thread with interest but skimmied it thinking that the info may be dated . I and I bet others would love a review as succint and informative as the first page. Perhaps just an update? Thanks. Ed

Why exactly it works I can't say. Not that it's a secret, I just don't know, maybe some kind of histamine release or some such thing. Just hang pt hand /arm in dependent position and pump fist. Give the usual pat pat pat and then let tourniquet down for 15sec and repeat above. The preop nurses are supposed to start iv's when they can but look to me specifically if they are having trouble. I make a point of having an iv in all my pts before they go into O.R. so they don't have to lay wide awake in a cold O.R. waiting to be jabbed. I promise them they will be nice and mellow almost as soon as their head hits the pillow. That's what I'd want. Ed

A little tip I found useful: If after putting up the turniquet you don't see any prominent veins, drop the turniquet for a few seconds and put it back on. I almost always do this when starting i.v.'s as it makes for a better target. Ed

Nonsense, been doing it for 25 years. Best decision I ever made besides marrying my wife. Better money, more respect less scut and way less running around. Best job in hospital if not an M.D. Ed

My advise would be to make some appts. for interviews over a few days and fly in. A nice reasonable hotel called Hotel 17 on seventeenth btw 2nd and 3rd ave would only run you $150 a night and is close enough to a lot of east side and downtown hospitals. There is plenty of work I'd think. I would try to negotiate access to hospital housing into the deal. That is easily as much a perk as any bonus you might get. Working and living in Manhattan as a reasonably young adult is a great time. I did it from age 28 till 47 although only the first 5-7 or so years in hosp housing. Get a job with some flex time and you will have the time to explore and enjoy one of the greatest cities on Earth RedEd

Two or three years after I got out of school I went to an old Catholic hospital in Georgetown Guyana for three months, I could have used a little more experience first. Teaching three students the fundamentals and no other anes. provider to share work and "expertise" with. A real plus was the fact that it's an English speaking country. I had a stretch during the 1990's where I'd meet two surgeon's in a small busy hospital outside of Cap-Hatian in Haiti every year for two weeks. They were both retired and loved to cut. There was more then enough work for them as people would come from the cities to have surgery by the Americans. Here again I was the only anesthesia provider and it could get pretty exhausting, but a few sips of their 5 star Babancour rum in the evening helped ease the load. Any thing that could be done under regional was. That went on for ten years. Once I went to Equador with a surgeon from a hospital I was working at here. In this instance it seemed like more of a promo tour for him with a lot of meetings with dignitaries and such. Not enough surgery. If we're not going to get anything done for these folks don't waste my time. Some times these trips could be frustrating in that time can be wasted but eventually I took the attitude that you had to focus on the individuals you did take care of and it's impact on their life. Volunteering is a great experience for the most part. One thing that hit home often was how fortunate I was to have been born here in the U.S. A good clearinghouse for me was Catholic Medical Mission Board on 17th street off Union Square in Manhattan [That's New York for those of you in Rio Linda as they say] Best of luck and by all means go for it Idoubt you'll regret it RedEd

Being the sweet and loving man that I am; I forgive you Empire. ED

Thanks RedCell. I guess two Reds make a White. RedEd

Cheez, I''m a pariah on this thread after a little tongue in cheek jibe. It's nice to be quoted! I have a great time at work and most of my fellow nurses faces light up when they see me walk in their room in the A.M. I'm no poser whatever that is and I treat my patients like gold and get along fine with coworkers. Been giving anes. for 25 years and made many a friend, none by cowering in the corner. Man up! Ed

Don't worry about it, I'll bet it will a non issue once you learn to accommodate for it. Work hard, don't be cocky, take in as much as you can and my bet is you'll do just fine. RedEd

I often have a great itme in the O.R. Man up Ken or find another line of work Ed

Oh hell yeah, I worked that area for shorts stints every year for 12 years. Only problem is it wasn't a paying job. Haiti and Guyana. Not exactly Club Med but the weather was great Ed

I've gamed the system now for 22 years as far as schedules go. A 24&16hr shift, 3 12hrs shifts. etc. Now I just work the minimum that will entitle me to benefits particularly vac. time. I doubt there are to many jobs, if any, in the hospital setting, that involve patient care, that pay better. Best move I ever made aside from marriage. Challenging but rewarding work that you don't have to take home with you. If you want to vonunteer in the 3rd world there's plenty of opportunities. Alot less of the B.S. that you find in regular nursing, and great drugs to boot.[just kidding] Ed

At this point in my career I value time off over money. I work about 32 hours a week and make over 100,000. Many find it hard to resist the opportunity for more hours/money. Often they have kids to raise and educate, I don't. I love the work, but like anything else it can become drudgery if you spend to much time at it. As a friend of mine in the business says "Yeah I make 250,000. but I.m not salaried and each one of those hours have to be put in to make that money." Good luck Ed

This does not surprise me at all. I went to this school back in the mid eighties. The experience was excellent due to the fact that it's a major urban medical center with a heck of a lot going on. As far as the school goes it was rife with favoritism, quotas and cronyism. A wild two years to say the least Ed

I have gone on numerous missoins in the past: Haiti x10, Guyana for three months and Equador for a short stint. The folks I found most helpful were the Catholic Medical Mission Board on 17th. St. in NYC. They were any easy pick for me as they were 15min walk from home. I think their wbsite is CMMB.com or something to that effect. It's a great experience and reminds me of how lucky I was to be born here. Ed