Nurse Anesthetist Essay

Advanced Practice Nursing has always been my goal for furthering my education to the highest level, even before I started nursing school. Everything I have done since my first day of nursing school has been a step toward that goal. Immediately after graduating from nursing school, I was privileged to accept a position in the Trauma/Burn ICU at the widest burn center in the city. The Burn ICU at Hillcrest Medical Center has solidified my desire to be a Nurse Anesthetist. It is a 16 bed unit where we care for the most critical type of patients (burn patients), with its wide variety of complications such as impaired airway, hypovolemia and sepsis. We also get lots of overflow patients with different kinds of medical conditions.

The Burn ICU
patients are generally on different kinds of drips that require continuous monitoring of vital signs, lab values, and physical assessments. Caring for these patients has prepared me for any crisis, taught me to expect the unexpected and to always be one step ahead. I love working as a team player when the need is there, but also I don’t mind being independent when more autonomy is allowed. In The Burn ICU, most of our patients are on ventilators requiring constant monitoring and rapid response to alarms and patient health changes. I have learned the importance of walking into a room and assess the patient before looking at the monitor.

I like to understand the details behind everything and always like to update my knowledge about any new medical technology. I am dedicated to my career and I am using my medical background to serve this career and strive to do the best I can. I feel called to this service and strive to make an impact on patients every day. This is why I feel graduate school is the next step at this time. Nurse anesthesia will allow me to continue to study the science behind medicine, enhance my developing critical thinking, and learn an entire new scope of my nursing career. The school of Nurse Anesthesia will provide me with the foundation necessary to start a career in this crucial and marvelous specialty.

Nurse Anesthetists are simply registered nurses who are educated to specialize in anesthesia.
Anesthesia describes drugs and gases that help to block sensation, and they keep patients unconscious while in surgery. Their main goal is to have the patient awake free of pain. Nurse Anesthetist’s scope of practice includes many tasks before, during and after administration of anesthesia in every practice setting. He/She develops and implements an anesthetic technique (general or regional) while managing the patient's airway and pulmonary status using endotracheal intubation, mechanical ventilation and pharmacological support. As the patients go to sleep for a procedure, they need to be able to trust that their Anesthesia provider is assured and strong and will be their advocate when they can’t advocate for themselves. That is the human touch, and it is vital in order to be a great anesthetist. This is why after the patients wake up from anesthesia and they are hemodynamically stable, I want to ensure that their needs and emotions are my priority. I want the patient to feel as comfortable as possible because he/she will be awake and not receiving any more sedation and it is important for him/her to feel comfortable about what is going on in that very stressful
situation.

I love the operating room because I see it as a world unto itself; there is nothing else like it. When I decided to be a CRNA I was able to look beyond the surgical field in the OR to the head of the table where the really cool folks are, Anesthesiologists and nurse anesthetists. One of the many things I like about CRNAs is that they are calm, meaning that when something happens to the patient during surgery, the CRNA should be the last one (if ever) to panic otherwise the result would be bad. I will do my best to be honored to be one of the CRNAs one day because they are they are unique people that provide their skills in the area needed. I see that the CRNAs are the Anesthesia providers for the future in the U.S., and by starting the Nurse Anesthesia program I will be part of that future.