Jasmere1

Yes, I do acknowledge your point. The AAs practice at University Hospitals. Cleveland Clinic does not have AAs. The collaboration and consultation class is a generic MSN class that is a part of the core classes that every MSN student has to take. It is not specialized to anesthesia. This class is taken along with NPs from all different specialties. During one of our MSN courses, all independent practice CRNAs came in and contributed valuable information to us. The Cleveland Clinic main campus does have residents that do the PNBs. However, we rotated out to a different hospital and had great experience with PNBs. The cleveland clinic is in the process of transitioning to a different anesthesia model than what has been used historically. The cleveland clinic has both residents and srnas. The staff anesthesiology teach some of our lectures etc. It is a very integrated program. I personally enjoy both disciplines being involved in the learning process. It adds a different perspective to certain things. I'm sure there are other places where you can be completely and fully independent. All I'm saying is that we get a great vast amount of experience due to the volume of cases that we do. There are enough cases to go around for everyone. Not all grads stay at main campus. Even different hospitals within the cleveland clinic system have different cultures. Different specialties have different cultures for that matter. I'm not really into politics, but I do know that I am getting an awesome education. Our Crnas as well as MDs not only teach the chapter in the book, but some of them have written the chapters. They are the contributors to the most relevant research. Crnas have taught me some really great things, but so have some of your MDs. I do get your concern. Politics are involved in everything. I just think it's great to be able to work with this caliber of practitioners. They have trained all around the world. If I have a question about TEE/Echo, or fiberoptic, I don't have to email someone around the world. We have CRNAs/MD who specialize in it. I can just stop in their office and they know me by name and are happy to teach. As a student, I'm just like a sponge. I am willing to learn anything from anyone as long as it contributes to my practice. I don't know if I will stay there after graduation. It may not be the best fit for me. I just know that I am getting great training.

I am in the Case Western/ Cleveland Clinic program. We have such a vast number of cases. We do have residents, but there are enough cases to go around. We rotate to an outpatient center to do all of regional/ peripheral nerve blocks. Our graduates have 2-3x the amount of case requirements upon graduation. During the OB rotation, it is not uncommon to have 80-100 spinals. We do mostly all ASA III-V. Therefore, we deal with a high level of acuity. I think just finding a well established program where the culture meets your needs is the most important thing. In my program, the majority of students stay after graduation, so the faculty is very interested in training you to become a competent colleague. The mentality is different. They would much rather teach you than haze you because most of the students stay. All programs have pros/cons. You just have to weigh them out.

I am a srna in the Case western/Cleveland Clinic program. I love my program. We have such a vast amount of clinical experience. Our totals by graduation double the minimum requirements required. We work in a very highly technical environment and take some of the most complicated cases in the world. As a personal bias, I feel that our clinical experience and training is awesome and prepares us as competent practitioners.