deke

I really can't guide you as to where to live but I can talk about the drive in. I commuted to anesthesia school from Tuscaloosa which is an hour west of Birmingham. Pleasant Grove is in that direction. Driving in on I 20-59 from that direction is not bad at all. Many times class starts at 0900 and you will miss the 0800 traffic at the junction (where I65 meets I20-59). As far as clinicals starting, there just isn't much traffic on the road at that time of the am. When we drove in to school we may experience an occasional slow down as we approached the junction but never were we in standstill and we never were late for class or anything like that. Even if you do get caught in traffic, the instructors are very understanding and they have been caught in traffic too. As far as parking and walking to class, it's not that bad either. I will say this, for a 0900 class I would arrive early b/c the lot fills for that time and your walk can increase exponentially if you know what I mean. Hope I was of some help. By the way, I have been to Pleasant Grove and it is a nice area from what I saw of it. I was at the little league baseball park and there seemed to be a nice atmosphere there.

Just wanted to respond....... The interviews at the regional sites are "different" than at the central location e.g (Birmingham). If you are interviewing at Mobile, the interview with the faculty of UAB will be the same as the central location; BUT, the folks from Mobile handle the students quite differently than the faculty. I have friends in the Mobile component now so I would be prepared for clinical questions from your area of expertise. I didn't send this to make you nervous, I just wanted you to know that you will be handled in a different manner than folks that have interviewed at OTHER sites but for the same program.

The first day of classes I asked our program director what is the top reason someone doesn't make it through the program. #1--Personal problems--divorce, non-supportive family, injuries, etc. #2--Lack of desire #3--Decide it's not what they thought it was, don't really want it. We've lost 4 out of a class of 68. 1 had a bad car wreck on the way home for Christmas holidays. (she starts back in August) 1 hurt her neck from carrying books and missed a few classes but is starting back in August. The other 2 had multiple factors. As far as I know all 4 had good grades. My take on it personally is,,,,,,,,Desire will take you a lot of places!!!!!! Family support is very important...At our house it's a team effort because we have children and all the bills (house pmt, power, water, phone, etc.) I am about to enter my third month of clinicals, got a long way to go, but it is a great job.......Praise the Lord that I am where I am........

My two cents would be to "shadow" a few days if possible. My program is front loaded and providing anesthesia is very different from anything in nursing. So, the concepts explained are more easily understood if you "see" it in the OR. Shadowing will also help you to familiarize yourself with the environment. If you do shadow, try to follow someone that likes to teach so you will get the most out of it. I shadowed a good bit before clinicals and it really helped when clinicals started b/c the environment can be very stressful in and of itself, nevermind if it's your first day (of clinical rotation) and they hand you the laryngoscope blade and you have an MDA, CRNA, a circulator, a scrub, and maybe a surgeon all looking at you to put the tube in.. :uhoh21: . Hope everything goes well for you............... :)

This is only an opinion. I am an ex-CV nurse, also some ACCU experience and my wife works in the Cath Lab. The only reason I could see for waiting would be if he was in heart failure and they wanted to resolve that before proceeding. In my opinion, he needs surgery, the sooner the better. The LAD is 100% occluded and it feeds the workhorse of the heart as we all know. That is not a situation that can wait can it? If he has severe multi-vessel disease, that in and of itself rules out a Stent unless you were bridging from the CAth Lab to the OR. I am sorry for the circumstance, he is awful young to have 15% ejection. I hope everything works out for you all and soon.

My opinion is that when the egg is fertilized--right then you have a person. I don't see how it could be thought of any other way. Life has begun. The baby has an EKG that can be measured at 8 weeks post conception. Yes, there are certain instances where there is suffering but we must remember that we are not in control of very much at all and there is ONE that is in control. We look at this life many times, as if it is all there is, but there is eternity ahead of us all. This life is just a mist, it is here, and it is gone. It is not the end.

Thanks for your message, after a 2 week stay in the hospital my Dad passed this life yesterday at 5:15 p.m. He was a great man and a great father/grandfather. Hope everything is going well for you. deke

Thanks for your message, after a 2 week stay in the hospital my Dad passed this life yesterday at 5:15 p.m. He was a great man and a great father/grandfather. Hope everything is going well for you. deke

I am a SRNA and in our Anatomy class we have to do a group presentation on Laryngeal Anomalies. I have performed a search and have some info but was wondering if there are any specific sources that any of you could guide me to that would help. I would like to say that this is a small presentation that I will not receive a grade for but, despite that my group wants to do a good job and since it is a group, I'm sure everyone can get alot of the same info. from the easy search, but I thought that many on this sight could guide me to something that noone else maybe has found. Thanks a bunch. btw, I would ask for your prayers for my dad and my family as he is in a Heart Failure exacerbation that is very bad. He has all ways been a strong man, and to see his deterioration in just the last week is unbelievable. He has been well taken care of,,,,His primary started Natrecor yesterday am and so we hope that we will see some good results today...... Thank you so much for any help with the assignment and for prayers/concerns.

I am currently in school. I worked in the ED and later in a CVICU. In my class there is literally a hodge-podge of experience, age, backgrounds, etc. So as far as getting accepted, I would say it is program dependent. My program is front loaded, meaning we are strictly classroom and have not yet ventured into clinicals. But, when working in the ED, it was very fast paced and I did a lot of technical things. Get an order, go do an action....If there was a problem, usually a Physician would be right there. In the CVICU however, I had 'time' to think and process what was going on with my patient. I saw more of a big picture and put some things together in that respect. So the CVICU gave me some building blocks or stepping stones to work with. Especially since there is so much pathophysiologically related to the heart and the prevalence of CV disease. The above is my personal opinion after experiencing this in my own life, there are probably many that may see things differently. Hope it helps you and God bless you.

The first semester went well. We finished up Thursday the 11th and will go back Jan 6th. The next semester is supposed to be very tough with Gross Anatomy, EKG, and Anesthesia Pathophysiology. My entire class was ready for the break though. The library scene was getting kind of old toward the end, but we have lots more in the very near future. To me, the first semester was sort of like I expected. There was a lot of volume to my notes. The tests covered large amounts of material. I am looking forward to next semester, and really look forward to clinicals, which start in the summer.

I am in the class presently. I received my letter for interview last year on December 22nd so I would watch for my letter somewhere around then.

If I were you, I would consider meeting with the program director at the school you are interested in applying to. Just ask them up front to look at your transcripts, (take them with you), look at your work experience and ask them what direction they could give you in terms of being accepted to the program. It would depend on the program of course. I am currently in a program and we have a hodge podge of experience, CVICU, TSICU, neonatal ICU, PACU, OR, ER, you name it and we've got it. There seems to be no definite advantage in what the background is to me. Anesthesia is totally different. Commenting to the folks that ask why so many people are interested in CRNA. There are several reasons: 1) there is more respect I feel for CRNA's due to higher skill level, advanced degree, etc. 2) Better hours. I worked 11-7 for several years, holidays, 26 weekends a year. I realize I will continue to work call and the like but, it will be nowhere near the terrible hours I have worked in the past. 3) Respect. Nurses are very smart and do a great job and many lives depend on nurses but as a profession we have little respect from the general public. This is a generalized statement but very true in many ways. How many have ever heard, "Let him/her clean em up, dats what they get paid to do." "What are you the bedpan checker?" The list goes on and on. I don't mean to sound so cynical because there are many many examples of this not being the case, but as I said before many times it is. That's my 2 cents. Hope the first amount of my writing helps.