Nurse Anesthetist Panel Discussion is the topic of this episode as we look at CRNAs this month on Nursing Notes Live. In this episode of the Nursing Notes Live podcast, I got the chance to sit down and chat with our panel of nurse anesthetists including Sharon Pearce, president of the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists and CRNA at Carolina Anesthesia and Associates in Greensboro/Winston-Salem, N.C. and John M. O’Donnell, professor and chair of the Department of Nurse Anesthesia and director of the Nurse Anesthesia Program at the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pa. Here’s that discussion.

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Jamie Davis:         Sharon and John, it’s great to have you both here on the show and talking about nurse anesthetists today. I’ll start out with my first question for Sharon and that is tell us a little bit about why you wanted to become a nurse?

Sharon:                Well, Jamie, when I was younger I had congenital deformities of my feet which required extensive surgical procedures. I was in second grade. I will never forget the nurse that took care of me. I kind of wish I knew who she was now but I was going through a lot of pain and she had to give me an IM injection and she talked me through it. And to me, she was an angel. I can remember being, what seven years old and looking at her and I said, “One day I’m going to be a nurse just like you.” I had no idea who that lady was. But she made such a profound impact on me at such a tender young age.

Jamie:                   It’s amazing the way that nurses impact each of us and so many nurses become nurses because of that nursing touch at some point in their lives.

Sharon:                Absolutely. I totally agree. My grandmother always thought I was going to be a teacher so she was one who was ultimately surprised that I became a nurse but it absolutely goes back to that event.

Jamie:                   John, how about you?

John:                     Well, I have to say my pathway is a little bit different. I grew up in the Western Pennsylvania steel mill country and I think the expectation was that I would become a carpenter or perhaps work in a steel mill like my dad did but I was also exposed to nursing. I had an aunt who was the director of Pennsylvania Easter Seals and they run a camping and recreation program in summer for physically and mentally challenged individuals and so I got the chance to work as a camp counselor. That was the first time I really encountered on a day-to-day basis the work that a nurse did. So every camp had a nurse there because of all the medications and physical and sometimes mental needs of these campers. I just became fascinated by her interaction with them. Got to know her a bit better. Found out what the career trajectory was and then went home and told my steelworker dad that I plan to become a nurse.

Jamie:                   How did that go?

John:                     [Laughter] Well, it didn’t go perfectly smoothly because it was really pretty far outside of his comfort range but when it became clear that I was truly serious about it and got into a college for that – and especially when I graduated and then my career started taking off – he became proud of me and so it ended up as something we kind of laughed about later.

Jamie:                   As a fellow male nurse I know that sometimes you get that raised eyebrow from people you know when you announce that that’s your career decision. So I’m curious how that went.

John:                     I mean this is back in 1979 as well. It’s a whole different world.

Jamie:                   It is. So tell me a little bit about how your career progressed. What drew you to become a nurse anesthetist?

John:                     Well, I was working as a nurse, I took my first job at Magee-Women’s Hospital in Pittsburgh and I was...