dynamiteRN

ETT is designed to protect the airway from aspiration with the balloon inflated. LMA is not designed to do this. LMA is a supraglottic airway that is not designed to keep any gastric content from entering the trachea. With Neuromuscular blockade, ventilation is provided via ventilator which can generate a greater pressure that can cause gastric distension, resulting to increased risk of aspiration. Therefore, LMA is not the best airway device to be used when neuromuscular blockade is to be used. In any event that LMA is in place, and there is an unanticipated requirement for neuromuscular paralysis, the best and safest approach is to switch to ETT from LMA, then paralyze.

From the few hours I have spent in this website, it seems like they are looking at both national and international issues that comes up in the media. There were some members from other countries as well. Are you practicing in Canada?

for those who are interested: the correct website is www.nursingadvocacy.org (instead of nursingadvocacy.com). I apologize for the mistake. LPNer I hope we are talking of the same website.

LPNer: IF you would please let me know more of your own experience about this organization and would like to know about how you mean by RN oriented organization. Taken for granted that it is indeed an RN oriented organization, why would it not be of help for the LPN , aren't RN and LPNs share common goal which is to provide efficient care to the sick client? Furthermore would it not be beneficial for all groups of nurses ( advanced practice nurses , LPNs, RNs, etc. ) if the goal of this organization came to a full realization. In what way was it shown to you by this organization that you are not an important member of the health care team and moreso in what way has it been shown to you that this organization is not seeing you as a valuable, educated, and necessary to the health care team. Please PM me if you will. Thank You.

While it is true that nurses like yourself do an exemplary job in the profession by doing all the best possible to alleviate some patient's sufferring, able to advocate for what is right for a person who is ill, able to initiate lifesaving measures to prevent death from a person's illness or injuries, our serious and important contribution for the health care delivery system remained underrecognized, underestimated, undercompensated , etc. Nurses are the backbones for an effective and efficient health care system. Yet the public has stereotypified the image of our profession as simply workers who rely from a physician's knowledge and physician's orders inorder to function. Such is not the case as we all know. We need to let the public know of what we do. We need to educate them and let them realize the importance of our presence in cases where they become ill. Only when the public are able to regard the value of our profession as indidpensable will we be able to make an impact on what we want our profession to become. The cost of the services we render will follow the impact we make before the public's eye. Let us correct misconceptions about our profession. Let us promote what this wonderful profession really is all about. One very personal and productive way I found is by going to the website: www.nursingadvocacy.org ( center for nursing advocacy). In this website , you will be directed very easily and conveniently on how to educate the public about nursing. A very clear example is the popular TV show ER. Many times were the nurse's role protrayed so wrongly in this show. Yet you as a nurse watching from your TV set cannot correct such misconception. The public watching this show will then believe what is being shown. This will further weaken the already distorted public image of our profession. The center for nursing advocacy has a campaign for media releases such as ER. This is just one way of the many things you can do to make a difference for a brighter future of your profession. Let us correct the public, let us promote our profession, let our voices be heard. Then we will be able to see the change that we have longed ever since . For all the great nurses: more power to all of you!!!:rotfl:

Glad to hear from future fellow classmates. I will start driving on Sunday for TWU. I look forward to meeting you all. I will be living in campus.

I was the first alternate in VCU and accepted in TWU this year. My GPA is lower than the scale above.

Emerald NYL: If I were in your shoes I will choose 2005 offer. 2006 is a two year too long waiting for me especially after getting all excited of being accepted into a program. It seems that the financial aspect is the major hold back for the 2005, but I would exhaust all available resources/options to be able to finance myself by that time. Hope you will find an answer to your dilemma. Good luck.

Since there is power in number, I think we should all write to MSNBC . Let them know that definitely there are circumstances surrounding the case that could have caused the death, and not to be concluded that the death is a result of having a nurse anesthetist as the anesthesia provider. They should inform the public that Dr. Kotler is WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!!!! We should clear the name of CRNAs being viewed as a liability before the public eye as a result of this TV show.

congratulations versedvixon for making it in VCU. I applied there and got the first alternate rank. So if you give up your place, I will surely grab it. ( I doubt if you will though ). Again Congratulations!!!!!

I believe that having med surg experience (not necessarily 2 years) will be a better advantage to a nurse before proceeding for the ICU. My experience as a long term care nurse, wound nurse, and medical-surgical nurse has helped me become a well rounded nurse in the ICU setting. I have become a significant resource for my colleague in ICU because of my experiences and my abilities that were gained only from working in a medical surgical floor. I am able to make quick , safe ,accurate and appropriate decisions even if the data at hand is extremely ambiguous, especially with the critically ill Pt. Most importantly, I have gained great confidence in my nursing skills, enabling me to be a very effective part of the health care team. These are only possible if you have dealt with Pts at their sickest condition without having to rely to a monitor or other technical equipment in ICU setting to be able to tell that your Pt is in trouble. But again, each person is different. It is only you who can tell whether you need the MS experience prior to going to ICU.

Hi everyone. I am new to the board but have been a long time follower of the different threads here in this forum. I could not be thankful enough for all the shared wealth of information and knowledge from all of you. This forum has been a tremendous help and inspiration for me to be able to achieve my goal of making it to a Nurse Anesthesia Program. I am posting today a very significant issue that is worth looking into by current and future professionals of anesthesia practice. I have just finished watching A TV show in MSNBC called Deborah Norville Tonight :episode on 7/13/2004 , 7 to 8 mountain time, about plastic surgery. Several aspects of plastic surgery were discussed in this show. Among these were about the safety of plastic surgery. A certain physician by the name of Dr. Robert Kotler was being interviewed about his practice and what he would recommend to the consumer/client inorder to have a safe outcome from having a plastic surgery . The discussion led to the event in New York when an author (the name escapes my memory) who chose to undergo plastic surgery died and the cause of death has been quoted in the show as "because of the anesthesia". Dr. Kotler went further in saying that cosmetic surgery is not risky and going under the anesthesia makes the surgery high risk. He said " that is why anesthesia should be administered by a physician anesthesiologist not a nurse anesthetist", and he repeated the word nurse anesthetist twice. He also said that a nurse anesthetist administering the anesthesia with this New York author case has been unsupervised... Although my post is extremely lengthy , I would like to be able to post the conversation as accurately as how it happenned. This is the second time around that an issue of similar kind has occrred since I have been a follower of this board. This and that of the Vogue magazine issue. It will happen again, for as long as we have other health professionals like that of Dr. Kotler, who is not adequately informed or educated about the nature of the nurse anesthesia practice , but able to comfortably judge whether the practice is safe for the public or not. The AANA should be involved once again. Are there any updates about Vogue and their response to the AANA president's letter?