srna16

Thanks for the reply. I'm not taking any meds and have not had trouble with anxiety prior to anesthesia school. My days consist of waking up at 3:30am and going to clinical in the OR until around 5:00pm. My days off are spent studying. It's an intense program where we are constantly reminded that being a CRNA is the ultimate responsibility and we must work, work, work to be competent and safe providers. My body is not tolerating the schedule any more and I have thus been extremely anxious about my future in anesthesia and ability to do the job/care for my patients, especially on such an autonomous level. A career as a CRNA carries a heavy stress load and I am wondering if anyone else has experienced this, and whether it's just school or if I'm not fit for this profession. I am very worried about burnout and that I am too easily fatigued/anxious to carry the responsibility of a CRNA. I've done well in my program so far but I'm really starting to break down. It sucks that I'm questioning things when I'm almost finished with school, but I don't want to be a liability or dangerous to my patients if I'm too anxious to handle it. I'm just wondering if any other CRNAs/SRNAs have felt this way, and if it's just school or if I'm not cut out for the career.

Hi, I'm a SRNA in the last year of my anesthesia program. I've completed nearly all of my course work and have nothing but clinical and practice boards left before graduation. You'd think this would be a happy time for me, but I've been dealing with severe anxiety for the last few months as well as being extremely tired, to the point where I can't even focus. I find anything over an 8 hour shift in the OR completely burns me out and on my days off it's hard to even get up off the couch. I know it's a result of school, but I'm really worried that I'll feel like this in my job and become a danger to my patients. I can't see myself working a 40 hour week in this job and not feeling burned out. I'm really not sure I even enjoy it anymore. Does anyone have any insight about this? I'm seeing a therapist and working through my anxiety but I don't hear much about this from CRNAs, and I'm wondering if I'm just not a good fit for this career after all or if I need to choose something more low stress.