Senoritis!

I cannot believe I am saying this already but I have 27 more shifts to go within the next 2 months and I will be officially done with CRNA school! Knowing this fact, I have a severe case of Senoritis. Switching between nights and days is a little tough and my cardiac experience at this last site hasn't been too kind. Now the stress is towards finishing the last bit of careplans left to do and to study, study and study!!
Prodigy and Valley are in the study plan but haven't been too consistent with it because of long shifts and alternating day and night shifts and of course, "senoritis". The nice thing, however is that time is moving closer to my graduation every minute and I cannot wait!!
Time is ticking :)

New Challenges at Home

Hello all,
Its been nice moving back home for clinicals this quarter. No more paying rent while I have a house, no more daily fast food stops, no more worries for at least 3 more months...one would think. Even though all thats been great, moving to a new clinical site does bring a lot of worries and challenges. New people, new place, new ways of doing anesthesia. So, I am not surprised that I had a stumbling first week. The last site I was at, I didn't get a chance to extubate my patients in the room, which is like saying I only did 50% of anesthesia. Coming to a site that does extubation in the room has been some task. Lowering the anesthesia by approximating when the surgery is going to end to allow patient to wake up with the last suture in is one heck of a challenge. On top of that, new charting, preop and post op routines and CRNA preferences have been hard to remember. While I was hardly ever tested at my previous site, my first week here consisted of multiple questions on medication dosages, regional anatomy and EKGs...some of which I didn't have a clue about. And therefore, here I sit on my chair at home, doing my homework early so I can brush up on these topics for Monday. Hopefully it will be helpful for later. Well...time to get back at it! Be back soon...hopefully

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End of Clinical Quarter II

Hi there dear readers,
I am happy to say that another break is here as I have finished my second clinical quarter. Now another place to move to for my next rotation. That brings in new fears, new challenges, new people...new everything. I really don't enjoy having to start everything all over again but am a little excited too. Even though, I am nervous, I do feel really lucky to have had my first experience at a wonderful site with a huge number of cases. Hopefully this continues and I can get really comfortable (especially with peds) before I graduate. Before that...a week and a half to enjoy at home after a long drive back.

Month and a Half Later

I know its been forever since I have come by to update you guys. I have missed writing...besides doing other fun things but free time has been very hard to come by these days! 10-12 hours workdays 5 days a week followed by homework over the weekend...exhausting! On the other hand, with a few ups and downs, its going alright till now. I have done a lot more cases including a couple of days of OB where I got to put in a few spinals...kind of nervous doing that but they went fine. My preceptors have been great! I have had an opportunity to see many different techniques including total intravenous techniques where patient's wake up and get extubated in less than 2 minutes after surgery and ask how the surgery went. That was pretty cool to see! Homework is something that kills me! I hate writing care plans with info that means nothing more than written words because we never actually use the plans I write in real life. All that I had learned is slowly fading away and I am trying hard to keep up with reading so I don't lose every bit I learned just last year. Thats all I have for now. I will be back a lot sooner than last time. So, talk to you soon.

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Clinicals Week 2

Two weeks, 64 cases! Its been so much fun along with some scary moments. My preceptors are great and have a variety of techniques and tips to share. I am surprised to say this but the second day of my rotations, I somehow made myself go work with children. Scary at first but then I think I had exaggerated fears about that. Well, now that I am over that fear, I have to work towards throwing myself into neuro and cardiac cases. But for now, I will wait and get used to the routine. So, I have been looking for opportunities to come and write about my experiences.
My clinical site is great! A lot of autonomy, nice people, and variety of cases. So far, I have done laparoscopic surgeries, tonsils and adenoids, knee scopes, shoulder surgeries, back surgeries, pediatrics to name a few. Its just been a whole bunch of stuff that I thought I won't get to do this soon, definitely not the first week. After the first two days, I finally figured out how to intubate using a miller. Its more of a technique than strength so it took me a while. Kids seemed easier to intubate. Even though its only been two weeks, one of my preceptor choose to let me perform induction solo (semi-solo) for a 12 year old's case. It kept me on my toes. Intubation and setting up went fine and then throughout the case, I was hoping nothing goes out of normal. Then, I kept hoping my preceptor will check in on me during emergence. And that didn't happen. So, I rolled the guy to PACU and took a breath of relief. Later, he told me that some people do better when they are not being watched and that he trusted me. I kept quiet but felt like saying "don't ever do that again man! That was some scary shit to deal with!"
Its been busy and tiring so I am not getting much chance to write about here. If you like to follow my fun and exciting days more closely, follow on facebook. Hope everyone is doing good! Be back with more exciting stories soon!

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Clinicals

Guess what?! Its time to start working on real people. Twenty hours drive to Texas with an hour and half break was a bad idea but driving on about 150 miles of dead road wasn't comforting either. Anyways, I m here and ready to start in less than a week!
So far studying has been a minimum exactly opposite of what I had in mind. Sleep schedule has been off and air mattress has been too nice to my back. Cooking for self is way harder than I thought. But as far as I have been told this would be nothing compared to what I about to get into. I guess it won't be too long before I figure that out. Anyways, will try to keep in touch and write more often once I get Internet at home.

56 Days!

56 days to go to rotations!! So this quarter is fluffed up with stuff I honestly don't care about this time but its been going good so far. First exam tomorrow, so really hoping to get a good start. This weekend my class attended the AZANA seminars which was long but interesting. It sort of was a review of what I have learned so far in school. Along with that, I got a chance to hear my seniors present and give tips on different rotation sites. The one thing I my having to put off is reviewing stuff for the upcoming SEE aka self evaluation exam. Another issue thats been worrying me is getting a place to live at my rotation site. Its so hard to pick a place to live at a site where I have never been. Then again, I guess I should make sure I pass this quarter before worrying about rotations. We ll see.

Back to studying! Talk to you soon!

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The Dreaded Interview

I don't know anyone who isn't nervous about an interview, especially if they really want something. That's the feeling I had when I heard I was selected for a CRNA interview. Really nervous, even after reading about possible questions, buying a brand new suit, getting a spiffy haircut...why?! Probably because I didn't know that the experience I was about to have was going to be very individualized. The questions I had read online were quite different from what I was asked. Not to freak anyone out...but just letting you know not to over stress on it. I listed the questions below and what I felt was the reasoning they were asking them. 

1) What made you decide you want to be a CRNA?
This one, I was expecting. It's not a good time to try to add humor by saying "for money". You can tell exactly why you are aiming for it. For example, I said, I didn't plan on it until I was suggested to look into it by one of the intensivist I was working with (directed them towards the recommendation I had from him...+ point) as he really felt my personality will suit well for this profession and it be something I would enjoy. Exactly, how it happened.

2) what do you do in
 free time?
Simple enough. Told em whatever I enjoyed doing at that time.

3) Are you aware that this a very strenuous program and would you be able to provide your full commitment towards it?

I told them that I am aware and prepared for it and have discussed with my family of the time and commitment needed to make through this program. 

4) At the end, they gave about 10 min to add anything I wanted.

I asked them to give me any suggestions for the future if in case I don't get selected. They suggested to round a CRNA and gave me places where I could do that. And told me that I am doing good on getting more experience with the two jobs. 

Another thing I asked was how they ensure that all students get all the needed experience during clinicals as I always thought that a person better be trained well to do such a high responsibility job. The response I got was that they rotate all students through various clinical sites but at the end it is up to the student to ensure that you meet the requirements and be assertive in looking for extra opportunities.