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Hello! The Canadian Anesthesiologists' Society lists some schools for AAs at the end of this web page: http://www.cas.ca/English/Anesthesia-Assistant

Hi Tloneil, I made a good friend at a jr. college who had received her BA from Cal and wanted to become a NP after working at a clinic. She was able to take her pre-reqs and did very well in them. She was accepted into a program in CA for an entry level masters with her BA and the pre-reqs that they required. She's incredibly smart and I have faith she'll make a FANTASTIC NP. With the ACA, I believe the need for NPs will be apparent. I would hope to think that schools like UCSF wouldn't have a program if they felt it wasn't safe to do so. Maybe take more science courses and do well in them to show your growth, even consider taking graduate level courses. Anyways, GO FOR IT!

Nursing school clinicals are wonderful because we get to spend some time on several hospital floors and also get experiences in the community health setting. Some students found themselves absolutely thrilled with L&D, while others were just 'meh.' From what I've seen, I'd say home health nursing is a slower paced nursing. A student doing the traditional track at my program did their precepting at home health and was hired by the agency. Don't let your amateur status discourage you, most of us had 2 left feet at some point. The only time I'd say to 'drop out' is if you become comfortable with your weaknesses and don't want to improve. But from your post, you seem eager to progress through this period, that's most important!

When I think of epinephrine in the emergency situation, I immediately wonder: anaphylactic or cardiac? In the case of anaphylaxis, epinephrine is usually given IM first, with the dose being 0.3-0.5 mg. It can be repeated every 5-15 mins for a total of 3 or 4 doses. The key to note is that the concentration is 1:1,000. If the pt. doesn’t respond to the IM epinephrine, then 0.1 mg IV epi can be used, but the concentration is at 1:10,000., and given slowly over 5- 10 minutes. I think the nurse may have thought the 0.1mg epinephrine was concentrated at 1:10,000, which if given slowly over 5-10 minutes would have likely been okay. The nurse may have thought the 0.1mg epinephrine was concentrated at the appropriate amount for IV. In ACLS, epinephrine is also concentrated at 1:10,000 and the dose is 1 mg in adults, given IV push. When giving a drip of IV epinephrine, it needs to be diluted with either D5W or NS. Different institutions have different protocols for IV drip epinephrine. The infusion rate depends on the pt. No comment on subQ epinephrine (going out of style) Great question to ask, btw. If you can answer the following questions correctly, you got the general points down: 1. What is the concentration for IM epinephrine? 2. What is the concentration for an infusion of epinephrine AND over what amount of time should it be administered? JCAHO doesn’t like using c.c. as it can be mistaken for “U” if poorly written.