Life as a Nurse Anesthesia Student

Life as a Nurse Anesthesia Student

Nurse anesthesia training has come a long way since its beginnings. What started in 1909 as a six-month training course with a cost of fifty dollars, has evolved into a rigorous twenty-seven-month program with costs in the thousands. Anesthetic improvements have been crucial to accommodate rapidly growing medical and surgical advancements. This necessity has called for highly trained anesthesia personal that can handle the stressful surgical environment. Critical care nurses that are exposed to this type of environment on a daily basis are a perfect fit for this career.

However, there are many requirements applicants must fulfill before even considering graduate education in anesthesia. All entering students must first complete a four year baccalaureate degree in nursing or a science related subject. All students are practicing registered nurses with at least one year of critical care experience. Many students have 10 or more years of critical care experience including intensive care, emergency room, operating room, or flight nursing. Admission to nurse anesthesia school is incredibly competitive. Virginia Commonwealth University is the top ranked graduate school for nurse anesthesia in the country. This makes entrance into this particular program especially difficult, with applicants from across the nation. Many uproot their families and move hundreds, or even thousands, of miles to enter the program. I personally moved two thousand miles with my wife and two children to be a part of the excellent program here. It was hard for me to leave a stable job and convince my wife and family to trust in me in what would become one of the hardest challenges we have faced. Life changed from being financially stable, to cutting coupons.

The transition from a fast-paced, challenging work environment to the life of a student can be frustrating for some. Life becomes countless hours in the classroom and library instead of challenges in the workplace. Some students have been out of the academic setting for a decade or more, and must redevelop study habits for successful graduate education. I was one of the lucky few to have had a short transition from undergraduate studies to graduate studies, making the move a little less traumatic. Academically, we begin with intense didactical education that often puts second thoughts into our heads about our life decisions. VCU’s front-loaded didactic material provides us with fundamental knowledge needed in the clinical setting. The “make or break” course at VCU is advanced mammalian physiology. Countless hours and caffeine-enriched beverages are put into this course alone. Additionally, many of us have just moved and are still unpacking our apartments or homes during study breaks. It is often overwhelming juggling school and other responsibilities simultaneously. One of the hardest parts for me personally was to have my son say to me, “Daddy, aren’t you done studying yet so you can play with me?” The thought of a better future for my family was my greatest motivation to keep going. With technological advances, fundamentals in anesthesia can now be developed in simulation learning centers. This allows us to practice life-saving maneuvers without putting real patients in danger. The pinnacle of anesthesia simulation occurs in a “crisis management” course. Here, the skills we have learned over the course of the program are put to the ultimate test. We are placed in a crisis environment and expected to manage the situation proficiently to bring the patient out of jeopardy. The simulator allows us to experience stressful and dangerous situations so as to sharpen our skills and prepare us for quick and efficient reactions in real situations.

Along with the simulation learning centers, VCU has many nationally renowned professors and associate professors that create an optimal learning environment. One such example is Dr. Chuck Biddle and his Directed Research course. This course provided us with the opportunity to engage in research to further benefit t the anesthesia profession. As students, we learn from hundreds of nurse anesthetists across the area. This research course gives us an opportunity to give back to the anesthesia community. I had the opportunity to publish an article in the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists Journal educating other anesthetists about certain side effects of epidural anesthesia.

It is a long road to become a nurse anesthetist. It is a minimum of 7 years of academic education as well as the critical care experience required. The average student will put in over 1,700 hours of clinical training and will provide over 800 anesthetics. With all of this training and study, students enter the anesthesia workforce fully equipped to serve the community.