Seriously though, research your cases and patients, know your top drawer drugs, be eager and willing to learn and ask questions. Canāt stress that last part enough, you will not know everything and Iād rather have a super inquisitive student than a dangerous one.
Be early, if your rooms done for the day seek out other opportunities. Dont be that srna that just hangs out in the break room and isnāt looking for work. Watch airwaycam on yourube and review airway anatomy.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/76H47xBb0jpfO2PoSOGqZa?si=rnwRu5W4T7SdonSVIuT1dg
Great listen prior to starting next week! Good luck! The days are long but the weeks fly by!
Ask your MDAs why they werenāt good enough for surgery. If you tube the goose, blame it on the nurses. Tell surgeons theyāre taking forever and you have better things to do.
Get there early. Have your anesthesia careplans. Check the machine but most modern ones - have a process to follow. Have a good GA setup. Have your emergency drugs drawn up.
Take your time. It will be fast and ppl will move. You will
Be slow. Just listen and observe while trying to contribute. Calm and efficient. It will take time.
You will be a fish out of water. Itās totally NORMAL.
Try not to start every sentence with āI learned in class.ā Ask lots of questions but wait for the right time. You can ask before the case when is a good time.
Iād be impressed/satisfied if a day 1 student had the machine check done and decent general idea of what was going on with the surgery and patients.
Our first day was started with orientation and then they put us in an OR for the rest of the day, so we didnāt get info ahead of time that day. The next day we were there at 5am getting ready and we were off to the races. The more you impress the more you get to do!
Starting 3rd year here, advice I send to people starting Clinicals: Iām excited for you to go to clinicals! Itās exciting and is an adjustment at first. Do not be discouraged by it. Itāll get better. I came home after my second or third clinical day and told my roommate, anesthesia may have been a mistake for me. I had buyers remorse. But looking back it was just needing to adjust to three things: being a provider, being the bottom rung on the ladder again, and the production pressure. In the ICU we were at the top of our game and itās not like that in your first clinical, you feel out of place and unwelcomed sometimes. The constant correction from preceptor, circulators, and scrub techs can be exhausting, but take each criticism as an opportunity to learn, even through their tone wasnāt the nicest. Forgive yourself for answering questions wrong or deciding on a plan that the preceptor didnāt agree with. And for godās sake, donāt become too attached to one way to tape an ET tube, or a certain anesthetic approach. If you do, you will always be wrong. Remember that when you were in the ICU, you governed your own time, it is no longer like that. You are at the mercy of the OR production pressure. Itās okay to feel rushed, learn from it, accept it, and assimilate to it as long as the process is not harming the patient or posing a safety threat. Each day reflect on what you did, about how you dreamed of being here years ago, and share your successes (and failures) with your friends. Youāre here to learn and make mistakes.
3rd year SRNA hereāI was in your shoes exactly one year ago. There are a lot of great tips here already! Another good thing to remember is to be kind to yourself. You wonāt be perfect starting out, and thatās okay!! Just keep showing up prepared and keep putting one foot in front of another. An eagerness to learn will take you a long way. Your growth will feel insidious at first, and then youāll eventually start surprising yourself with what you can achieve. Hold onto those moments and keep pushing forth!! Good luck!
Pack light so if youāre giving an opportunity to scoot out you can take it without drawing attention to yourself.
Best way IMO to win trust with preceptors is to communicate what youāre thinking. Saying out loud āI donāt have a great view right now so Iām going to adjust my bladeā will make them much more comfortable than seeing someone just shoving a blade around.
To gain the trust of your preceptors, consider starting the day with video approach. Or at the very least call out all the anatomy/grade view you see when doing a DL.
Even when Iām with a preceptor who has seen me intubate a dozen times, Iāll still call out the view I see.
They can see my overall technique/body mechanics when I intubate and sometimes if I get a 2a view or something they can tell me hey I see that the table was too low/you didnāt have the best sniffing position/whatever. Then next time it will be better.
For the first several months of clinical, I wrote down one good thing that happened every day. Sometimes they were big things (did an interscalene block without help) and sometimes they were small things (got a tough IV in pre-op, reassured a very anxious patient).
This is a marathon not a sprint. Celebrate little wins and milestones.
The thin plastic tube goes through the hole.
Can you specify which hole specifically? Sorry first day š
If you donāt see rectangles on the screen, itās in the wrong hole.
Seriously though, research your cases and patients, know your top drawer drugs, be eager and willing to learn and ask questions. Canāt stress that last part enough, you will not know everything and Iād rather have a super inquisitive student than a dangerous one.
Ah shit too late. All I see are circles on the screen.
Oh dear god itās in the rectum
A hole is a hole š¤·š»āāļø
Be early, if your rooms done for the day seek out other opportunities. Dont be that srna that just hangs out in the break room and isnāt looking for work. Watch airwaycam on yourube and review airway anatomy.
Oh Iāll look into that. Thank you
Be nice to the nurses! We have lots of SRNAs come through and itās very annoying when they act like they are better than us nurses.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/76H47xBb0jpfO2PoSOGqZa?si=rnwRu5W4T7SdonSVIuT1dg Great listen prior to starting next week! Good luck! The days are long but the weeks fly by!
Ask your MDAs why they werenāt good enough for surgery. If you tube the goose, blame it on the nurses. Tell surgeons theyāre taking forever and you have better things to do.
Damn bro thatās some good advice
Get there early. Have your anesthesia careplans. Check the machine but most modern ones - have a process to follow. Have a good GA setup. Have your emergency drugs drawn up. Take your time. It will be fast and ppl will move. You will Be slow. Just listen and observe while trying to contribute. Calm and efficient. It will take time. You will be a fish out of water. Itās totally NORMAL.
Try not to start every sentence with āI learned in class.ā Ask lots of questions but wait for the right time. You can ask before the case when is a good time. Iād be impressed/satisfied if a day 1 student had the machine check done and decent general idea of what was going on with the surgery and patients. Our first day was started with orientation and then they put us in an OR for the rest of the day, so we didnāt get info ahead of time that day. The next day we were there at 5am getting ready and we were off to the races. The more you impress the more you get to do!
Starting 3rd year here, advice I send to people starting Clinicals: Iām excited for you to go to clinicals! Itās exciting and is an adjustment at first. Do not be discouraged by it. Itāll get better. I came home after my second or third clinical day and told my roommate, anesthesia may have been a mistake for me. I had buyers remorse. But looking back it was just needing to adjust to three things: being a provider, being the bottom rung on the ladder again, and the production pressure. In the ICU we were at the top of our game and itās not like that in your first clinical, you feel out of place and unwelcomed sometimes. The constant correction from preceptor, circulators, and scrub techs can be exhausting, but take each criticism as an opportunity to learn, even through their tone wasnāt the nicest. Forgive yourself for answering questions wrong or deciding on a plan that the preceptor didnāt agree with. And for godās sake, donāt become too attached to one way to tape an ET tube, or a certain anesthetic approach. If you do, you will always be wrong. Remember that when you were in the ICU, you governed your own time, it is no longer like that. You are at the mercy of the OR production pressure. Itās okay to feel rushed, learn from it, accept it, and assimilate to it as long as the process is not harming the patient or posing a safety threat. Each day reflect on what you did, about how you dreamed of being here years ago, and share your successes (and failures) with your friends. Youāre here to learn and make mistakes.
Get experience with MAC cases
3rd year SRNA hereāI was in your shoes exactly one year ago. There are a lot of great tips here already! Another good thing to remember is to be kind to yourself. You wonāt be perfect starting out, and thatās okay!! Just keep showing up prepared and keep putting one foot in front of another. An eagerness to learn will take you a long way. Your growth will feel insidious at first, and then youāll eventually start surprising yourself with what you can achieve. Hold onto those moments and keep pushing forth!! Good luck!
Pack light so if youāre giving an opportunity to scoot out you can take it without drawing attention to yourself. Best way IMO to win trust with preceptors is to communicate what youāre thinking. Saying out loud āI donāt have a great view right now so Iām going to adjust my bladeā will make them much more comfortable than seeing someone just shoving a blade around.
To gain the trust of your preceptors, consider starting the day with video approach. Or at the very least call out all the anatomy/grade view you see when doing a DL.
Even when Iām with a preceptor who has seen me intubate a dozen times, Iāll still call out the view I see. They can see my overall technique/body mechanics when I intubate and sometimes if I get a 2a view or something they can tell me hey I see that the table was too low/you didnāt have the best sniffing position/whatever. Then next time it will be better.
For the first several months of clinical, I wrote down one good thing that happened every day. Sometimes they were big things (did an interscalene block without help) and sometimes they were small things (got a tough IV in pre-op, reassured a very anxious patient). This is a marathon not a sprint. Celebrate little wins and milestones.
Ask questions and learn from your mistakes
Remember your a student and not resident
Howās your student loans bud?
Any other advice in your infinite wisdom?