JJRBuckeyeRN

There is a group called Gay and Lesbian Anesthetists (GALA). Each year at the AANA National Conference they have a dinner. This year the dinner will be on Sunday, August 8. The dinner is NOT an official AANA event. Attire is casual. The organization welcomes students to attend the dinner and they will pay for the cost of students' dinners. I am a student and I will be attending the dinner. I was wondering if there were any other gay or lesbian SRNAs that would be interested in attending. If you are interested send me a message with your email address and I will forward you the information from the person organizing the event.

I am currently in my first year at the Univ. of Pittsburgh. I absolutely love it. The faculty is amazing, the facilities are also amazing, and the clinical experience is second to none. It is such a supportive environment. I got an interview at Georgetown last year and turned it down because I heard some negative things about the program from people in the program. Don't worry about the rankings. Go where you feel the best fit. If you like where you are you will end up a lot happier!

Case's interview was not that bad. They did not really ask me and clinical questions in detail. Asked about work experience, shadowing, why I wanted to be a CRNA, strengthsm ,weaknesses, etc.

I agree with the previous posts. Try to get "tasks" done early in your shift. But, at the same time...do not focus on "tasks" if there are more pressing issues (such as your pt having hypotension or desaturating). The ICUFAQs website is a great website. I have only been a nurse for 2 years. I have worked both of those years in a tertiary care, university medical center MICU. In my 2 years I have earned the respect of my co-workers and charge nurses and often times get the most sick pts on the unit. I ALWAYS ask questions. Also, if I have a patient that has a condition that I am unfamiliar with I look it up and read about it. Uptodate.com is a great website with up to date information on all conditions, illnesses, treatments,etc. I also tend to get to work about 30 mins early. Some of my co-workers give me a hard time about it (all in good fun of course). However, in that time, I do my tele strips. Read the H & P and the progress notes for the day for the patients that I am going to be taking care of. That way if I get a less than great report from the previous nurse I will still feel like I know what is going on with my patients. I hope this helps. Good luck in your careers.

I work in a 26 bed MICU at a tertiary care, university, teaching hospital. The protocols we have include: *Electrolyte replacement- if the pt is >50 kg and does not have renal issues. *Ventilator weaning *AM dose optimization and weaning of sedative drips *Insulin gtt These are the main ones that I can think of- I know there are more that I can not think of right now. The problem with our protocols is that our residents order the protocols. But, they do not know the details of the protocols. Therefore, they do not completely understand what is going on with their patients.

We do a lot of perc trachs on our unit. Here is what I do to be prepared: *Check coags with AM labs the morning of the procedure. *Turn off appropriate gtts (ex: heparin, argatroban, etc) *Make sure to have AMBG bag and suction set up *Have an intubation kit on standby *Sterile attire *New trach and trach supplies (trach tie, etc) *Sutures I also usually try to have the IV pole at the foot of the bed so that it is away from the MD's doing the procedure and I can easily get to it. I also make sure to have a pressor mixed and ready to go if I am worried that my patient might become hypotensive ( it is a good idea to already have the pressor line primed and connected in case you need to start using it). I also usually have an extra liter of saline in case I need to start bolusing the patient. Make sure to document when the first incision is made and when the airway is confirmed. The MDs usually like this information. I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.

I interviewed on March 12th and just heard in the middle of this week.

I interviewed on March 12th.

I just got accepted to start at the University of Pittsburgh this August. Anyones else starting then?

I got accepted into Pitt to start this August (2009). Anyone else starting then?

Applied- Case Western Reserve University and University of Pittsburgh. Accepted into both. Going to go to Pitt- Starting Aug 2009

What we usually try to do is have a nurse with one pt and an open bed be the CNC "Code Nurse Coordinator." Most of the times the code comes to the ICU. That way the nurse that responds to the code will then take care of the pt once they are transferred to the ICU.

I work in a 26 bed MICU. Our charge nurses never takes an assignment on day or night shift. Then another nurse, who has a full assignment, is the designated "Code Nurse Coordinator" and responds to all the codes.

I got a letter on January 8th that I was accepted. Anyone else?

I just was accepted into the Case Western program to start Aug 2009. Has anyone else been accepted? Which clinical site did you request? I requested the Cleveland Clinic. Looking for my future classmates!

I just got a call today and have an interview set up for January 5th. Anyone else?

I got a letter from Case that said: "You will be contacted by the Nurse Anesthesia Admissions Committee to make arrangements for an interview. ... I decision will be made on your application for nurse anesthesia after the interview process." I have not yet been contacted to set up an interview. Did anybody else get this kind of letter? Thanks!

Propofol is great for neuro pts. You can turn it off and the pt will wake up quickly to do an accurate neuro assessment. We check triglyceride levels dails on pts who are on propofol. If they are too high we will switch the pt to fentanyl and versed.

I work in a MICU at a tertiary care, university medical center. We get vasoactive gtts all the time. There are many times where I have pts on more then one pressor. Between the sedation, vasoactive, replacement gtts, etc there are times that i have over 6-8 IV pumps going. I have found the MICU to be a great foundation! But, I would say that the most important thing is to make sure you enjoy the staff. I would try to shadow in the different units in order to get a feel for them. Go where you feel most comfortable. Any ICU experience at a big medical center is going to give you a good foundation.

You can try the ear lobe.

I am in the application/interviewing process right not to get into an anesthesia grad program. I went into my undergraduate nursing program not knowing that I would ultimately want to be a CRNA. I have loved being a staff RN in the ICU. I would hope that if you went to nursing school just to be a CRNA you would also have a love for nursing at the same time. Otherwise you are not going to enjoy all of the classes that you have to go through in nursing school. All pts, including pts in the ICUs, deserve nurses who are excited and devoted to their jobs....not just doing it as a means to get somewhere else. So if you want to be a CRNA...go for it. But, enjoy the process and learn to love other aspects of nursing along the way!

I started right in an ICU internship and I feel that I had a great orientation. I work in a MICU that has awesome teamwork among the staff. The more senior nurses look out for those of us who are new when we first come out of orientation. I have never once gone into work nervous or scared. I always know that if things start to get over my head and I feel like I am drowning there will be two other nurses there to help me. Starting right in the ICU you have to be a self motivated learner and be willing to know where your weaknesses are and work on them. In 1.5 years I have gotten to the point where I always hope that I have the sickest pt on the unit...and I feel like I am competent and confident enough at this point to take care of the very sick ones.

I should probably shadow a RN in the ED where I work before I start to judge their practice. However...it just seems that whenever they bring a pt up to the MICU they are a MESS! The other day it took 5 nurses in the MICU a good solid hour to untangle all of the lines and get a pt organized that had come up from the ED. For the first 20 mins after the pt got on our unit if she would have coded we would have been in big trouble. And it was very likely that the pt could have coded on us...she had come in for cardiac arrest.

I work in a medical ICU and we get a lot of ARDS pts. I have only been a RN for 2 years. But, it has been my experience that we use proning as a last ditch effort. We usually try the HFOV (High Frequency Oscillator Vent) and using nitric with the pt before we think about proning. With the 3-4 pt's that I have seen proned about half of them have survived and the other half have passed away.

I have been taking care of a male pt for the last couple days that seems to be a medical mystery.... 36 yo male PMHx- unidentified connective tissue disorder, G-5 deficiency (which I believe causes anemia), 100lbs wt loss in the last 10-12 months. Several cases of pneumonia in the last 6 months. Came to us with a septic picture. Febrile, tachy, hypotensive. Echo showed an EF of 10-20%. They think that he has an autoimmune disorder and are working him up accordingly...we are still waiting for most of these labs to come back. The question is.. his Amylase and Lipase continue to climb. They are both over 1000 at this point, and his CK continues to climb as well. The MDs seem to believe that the pancreatitis is somehow related to an autoimmune disorder. Have any of you seen this kind of picture before in pts you have treated? Any idea what autoimmune disorder could be causing the pancreatitis? Side note----he had a full body scan about a week ago that did not show anything. I think he was going to go back today for another CT to see if there was anything that would help us understand why his pancreatic enzymes are climbing. Thanks for your help!