Transcript Informational Interview

INFORMATIONAL
INTERVIEW
Karoline Joyce
4/18
Who did I interview?
-My dad
-Certified Registered Nurse
Anesthetist (CRNA)
-Works at Wesley Long
Hospital in Greensboro, NC
-Has worked there for
25 years
Schooling and Experience
 Undergrad
at UNC-Greensboro; B.S. Chemistry
 Associates degree in Nursing (to go to Anesthesia
School)
 3 years work in Intensive Care Unit for experience in
critical situations
 Charleston Area Medical Center School of Nurse
Anesthesia for CRNA
 25 years at Wesley Long Hospital
Job Responsibilities
 Understand
patient’s medical history
 Start IV, decide how much anesthesia/other sedatives
needed
 Put breathing tube in
 Monitor patient’s heart rate, blood pressure, etc during
surgery
 Decide and administer all drugs given to patient during
surgery including those to put to sleep and to wake up
 Goal is to make surgery as painless as possible
Typical Day
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Get to work at 6 AM to his operating room and
check to make sure has correct drugs for the day
and machine is working correctly
Talk to patient in holding room about medical
conditions/things he would need to know about
Start anesthesia and put breathing tube in
Monitor HR and BP during surgery
Repeat for however many cases he has that day
Challenges and Rewards
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Greatest challenge is figuring out every persons
needs; no person is the same so the amount of drugs
needed must be adjusted
Also adjusting for conditions like high blood
pressure, heart failure, obesity, diabetes, etc.
 Greatest
rewards are being able to keep people from
being in pain
 Talking to patients after who are amazed that they are
not experiencing the pain they expected
Trends?
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Fewer CRNA’s today because of cost of education
Much more education is required to be a CRNA; by
2017 all CRNA’s will be PhDs after they finish the
same amount of schooling
Even though less people are becoming CRNA’s it will
never die; just like nursing this can never be a dead
field due to the need of a knowledgeable human
needed in person to do job correctly
Experience needed before?
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Be able to be in the Operating Room; need a
strong stomach
Good at making decision
Good under pressure
Definitely need to shadow someone in the hospital
and experience being in an operating room to be
sure you are not going to faint, get sick, etc.
Is this career what you expected?

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More than what he expected
He loves it so much he does it on his days off
“Some days I lose track of time while I’m working
and the hours fly by. But not every day, no one feels
that way about their job every day. Some days one
minutes feels like 10 hours. But you have to choose
a career rewarding enough to get through those
long days.”
CRNA vs. Anesthesiologist
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Very similar; learn same skills from same books
Only difference is the amount of schooling
 CRNA
gain B.S., Certified in Nursing, 1 year (or more)
ICU internship, Anesthesia School
 Anesthesiologists must gain B.S., take MCAT, go to
Medical School, 1 year of interning, 5 year residency
 An Anesthesiologist is a Physician (MD) with a specialty
in Anesthesia
 CRNA’s cannot write prescriptions, Anesthesiologists can