jimsrna

I am a CRNA and have studied and used memorization techniques over my many years of education. People will tell you that memorization is not the way to learning, but they are absolutely wrong. If you have critical data permanently stored you will be able to access this info at stressful times. For example, when a nursing instructor or anesthesiologist is pimping you in front of the entire OR, you will be able to rattle off minute details with ease. This will both allow you to concentrate on the "big picture" of patient care and give you confidence. There are many techniques out there like the basic association to the complex journey method. It was my experience that nursing school was a lot of logic with some memorization. Nursing requires one to take a problem and systematically determine the care required. However, when you get into anesthesia school the information becomes more detailed and black and white. This is when the ability to memorize huge amounts of information becomes critical. My techniques take time at first to lay down the foundation of the topic you are memorizing. After you have the foundation laid, you can add to it and will be able to access it for a long time. For example, when I was studying for my CRNA boards, I had a study guide that contained close to 4000 questions and answers. In one month, I memorized this entire book. When my classmates would ask me questions from this book, I was able to recite answers back quickly and easily. I am not writing this to brag. My intention is to help others by using my system. If you would like more info about my technique just email me or PM me.

I am a CRNA and work in Wisconsin. I have been reading all of the posts regarding AA's vs CRNA's and I have some comments to add. First, the AA's can defend the fact that knowledge in sciences better prepares a practitioner for the OR. Granted, some biochem is useful during patient care, but not essential. As other people have pointed out, most MD's/CRNA's forget a lot of the basic sciences they learn in the beginning of their education. I work with MDA's and their day to day clinical knowledge is comparable to that of CRNA's. However, does this mean that I think that because they may have forgotten some of nonessential facts that the education of the MDA is interchangeable with a CRNA. The answer is no. On the other hand, I don't think academic knowledge equals quality care. I think it can influence it, but quality of care is very individual. Throughout my education, I have worked with many brilliant people(CRNA's, MDA's, RN's) that were book smart but were poor practitioners. I think that the bigger issue here is the economics of healthcare. Flat out, I believe that wages will not continue to soar as they have. Even though we are facing an enormous anesthesia provider deficit, cuts are coming. Reimbursement is becoming less and less, not only for anesthesia providers, but for surgeons as well. The decrease in reimbursement is going to cause wages to drop and this drop will drive a lot of potential providers from the field. The problem of not enough anesthesia providers has to be addressed. Studies have proven that educating MDA's if far more expensive than CRNA's. I don't know the cost of educating AA's. However, as I stated before, if salaries of MDA's drop from 400,000 to 200,000, there will be a drop in the number of doctors that enter the profession. I am not saying that MDA's go into anesthesia for the money, but they have to make enough to pay for their education. I believe that the anesthesia care team will be the standard. Who will make up this team will be determined. I understand that AA's are proud of their profession and have every right to defend it, but our professions nor are our educations equal. Along the same line, a MDA's education or profession is not equal to that of a CRNA. MDA's have much more education and this education is medically focused beyond the basic sciences. I believe that MDA's are better suited to care for patients postoperatively because of this advanced education. They cared for patient throughout there medical school education. Along the same line, CRNA's are better equipped to care for patients secondary to both their nursing education and experience compared to AA's. This is not to say that there isn't a place for AA's, nor that some AA's are not better practitioners than some CRNA's. I do believe that AA's cannot and must not use their credentials interchagably with that of a CRNA. AA's cannot practice independently. In addition, a CRNA must not and should not compare their education with that of an MDA. However, what can be compared is quality of care. With that said, there is not any difference between CRNA's vs MDA's in regards to quality of care and I believe the same will be established for AA's vs. CRNA's. I think that the idea that AA's will replace CRNA's is just not true. As others have pointed out, there are just a handful of schools with just a few AA's practicing. AA's have been around for a long time and if the ASA truly felt that AA's could replace CRNA's then that would have happened. If AA's were interchangeable with CRNA's, then why haven't their numbers increased of the last twenty years?