CRNA

Talking to Anxious Parents about Anesthesia and Their Child’s Developing Brain

Considering Internet traffic, lay publications, and peer-reviewed clinical studies, parents are confronted with the angst that their young child’s brain, undergoing surgery, may experience neurocognitive toxicity due to our anesthetic drugs. It is a natural …

Gedankenexperiment: “Long-haul” Anesthesia vs Getting to Mars

One of the APEX crew trained and worked for 4 years in a center where it was not uncommon to find yourself caring for patients who would be “under” for 10 hours or more. Cases …

Gene Editing and Personalized Anesthesia: Let’s Peek Over the Horizon

The most recent era of healthcare is personalized anesthesia, representing a movement from one-size-fits-all care to targeted, patient-centric therapies. Genomics is fundamental to this shift, defining what makes us unique from all others on Earth. …

Ketamine Considerations for Mental—and Other—Health Issues: A Fluid Landscape

Ketamine has experienced a renaissance from the drug’s initial use many years ago. Not only as part of a multimodal component of many anesthetic approaches to reduce opioid use but more recently as a drug …

Perils of Worshiping at the Altar of Healthcare Technology Advancements

Advancements in healthcare technology can be exciting, but also troubling. During an OR case we were involved with, we listened to two surgeons discuss an article published by the American College of Surgeons entitled AI …

What Every CRNA Needs to Know about the Maintaining Anesthesia Certification (MAC) Program

Have you heard? The NBCRNA is transitioning the CPC Program to the Maintaining Anesthesia Certification (MAC) Program. This represents a significant shift towards a more streamlined approach to CRNA recertification. You’re not alone if you’re …

Avoiding Cognitive Decline and Dementia after Anesthesia in Our Older Patients

We need to talk about another elephant in the room. The risks of postoperative delirium and cognitive insult which may present as dementia may be mitigated or even avoided with the right preoperative assessment. But …

Putting Interprofessional Collaboration of Nurse Anesthetists and Surgeons under the Microscope

‘Surgery!’ Can you tell me if things are OK down there? You’ve likely never addressed your surgeon as ‘Surgery!’ and perhaps you’ve not been addressed by a surgeon as “Anesthesia!” instead of the name your …

GLP-1 Agonists and Anesthesia: From a Desert Lizard to the Patient

We’ve heard a lot about glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists lately, primarily via the brand names Ozempic and Wegovy. These types of medications can help manage blood sugar levels, however early research is showing …

Should Medical Errors Be Criminalized? Consider the Sword of Damocles

Human error is inevitable, and criminalizing it can impede the transparency needed to learn from our mistakes. We discuss an example that details the importance of avoiding criminalizing medical errors and instead focusing on systemic …