10.24.17 - Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center
Q&A WITH A CRNA
Q: DO YOU PRACTICE INDEPENDENTLY?
"Depending on which state you are practicing in there are different laws. Here in California, I can practice completely independently. If I want to go out and do outpatient anesthesia, if I want to go out to a hospital and be my own boss I can do that. We opted out almost 10 years ago. Not every state can you do that, such as when I used to work in Pennsylvania, which you will work under an MD"
Q: IS THERE ANY CHALLENGES OR LIMITATIONS IN YOUR PRACTICE?
"CRNA basically do everything. When I came to here (UCLA), because they had a residency it got scaled back a little. For example, I will still do transplants but I do not do liver transplants because there is a liver fellow. Same goes with heart transplants since there is a fellow position."
Q: WHAT IS YOUR WORK SCHEDULE LIKE?
"Here at UCLA we do shift work. CRNA’s can work 8 hours/week, 10 hours/week or 12 hours per week. I work 10 hour shifts. I do not work holidays or weekends."
Q: WHAT WOULD YOU TELL OTHER NURSES WHO ARE CONSIDERING A CAREER AS A NURSE ANESTHETIST?
I would say if you are interested in become a CRNA, seriously keep it in mind. It is a great area that allows you to work independently. Also, start to think on a cellular level. I would also say to not think about the money or the cost of school, it will all pay off in the end.
Q: WHAT ARE YOUR JOB RESPONSIBILITIES AT UCLA?
I work with patients of all ages in specialities ranging from trauma, pediatrics, obstetrics. I can be in the cath lab, IR, procedure room, main OR. Depending on the day I can either here at UCLA RR, UCLA Santa Monica, Jule Stein Eye Institute, Martin Luther King Hospital.
Q: WHAT WAS CRNA SCHOOL LIKE?
"My program was front loaded. There was intense didactics for 2-3 months then they slowly added days where we were in the operating room. This continued to progressively more and more days throughout the program. Similar to medical school, there are rotations through specialties such as pediatrics, thoracic, pain, trauma, obstetrics, neuro, cardiac and outpatient."
Q: IS IT TRUE CRNA’S ONLY DO “EASY PROCEDURES” LIKE COLONOSCOPIES?
"No, this is completely false. While working at the hospital on east coast there was no anesthesia residency program for MDs so I did everything including cardiac, liver, and thoracic. I also used to take “overnight trauma call” and "over night airway call”
Since UCLA has a fellowship program for liver anesthesia, cardiac anesthesia, and thoracic anesthesia, CRNA’s rarely do that because the MD fellows and residents need to get the required hours for their program."