Registered Nurse Anesthetists

Over the last decade, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have drastically increased the need for effective mental health services and treatment for U.S. veterans and service members, especially those suffering from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Nearly 1.5 million American service members have been deployed in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) since the attack on the Twin Towers in September 2001 (Price, Gros, Strachan, Ruggiero, & Acierno, 2013). Approximately 25% of soldiers and wounded warriors returning home from OEF/OIF present with mental illness due to combat-related violence and other trauma exposure (Steinberg & Eisner, 2015). According to Price and colleagues (2013), OEF/OIF soldiers and veterans are at greater risk for developing mental illness compared to others who served in past military operations.

This paper explores post-traumatic stress and how it is seen as a disorder. Post-traumatic stress can manifest into post-traumatic stress disorder. According to Sareen (2014), Post-traumatic stress disorder is defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM-5 as having 4 core features that are as follows. First, the person must witness or experience a stressful event. Secondly, the person or persons would re-experience symptoms of the event that include nightmares and/or flashbacks. The person or persons would also have hyper arousal symptoms, such as concentrations problems, irritability, and sleep disturbance. The final core feature dictates

Nursing is more than a profession taught by science. It is an art that the nurse refines through the creative use of oneself based on the skills and expertise, to transmit emotions and meaning to the patient. Nursing is a process that is subjective and requires interpretation, sensitivity, imagination and active participation. A core skill utilized by a nurse is advocacy, both for our patients and our profession. Our profession requires participation of advocacy at all levels of nursing, starting at the bedside and continuing all the way to nurses in legislation. To be a proficient patient advocate, the nurse must be able to assess the patient’s constant change in physical, psychological, spiritual, and social needs. I apply my knowledge

In his article, Creamer discusses and differentiates how civilian and veteran cases of PTSD are treated. He also discusses the details of PTSD and the treatments and classifications of it. This article receives its credibility by being published in the popular medical journal called the “International Review of Psychiatry”.

With change comes evolution. Most professions, specifically nurse anesthetist, as we know them today did not begin in the state they are in today. They grew through trial and error. Before revealing the history of this profession and most important, its leading pioneer, one must be familiar with the role of a nurse anesthetist. Nurse anesthetists, often confused with anesthesiologists, are nurses with baccalaureate degrees in nursing and master degrees in anesthesia who are responsible for administering anesthetics to patients preoperational. Contrary, anesthesiologists are physicians whose education requires a baccalaureate degree as well as medical schooling with special education in anesthesia. However, the anesthesia part of the education is very similar for both providers (KANA. 2011).

There have been many diagnoses of PTSD in American soldiers. As Mark Thomas said in a magazine article, “The National Academy of Sciences have report estimated that up to 20% of 2.6 million US men and women who have served in Afghanistan and Iraq may have it (PTSD)”(Thomas). This quote expresses that nearly 520,000 US families have been affected by this disorder. It also shows that PTSD has become a large enough issue that more and more people and

A baby was just born at 26 weeks gestation. Just over half the normal 40 weeks a baby should stay inside the mother. The baby is immediately whisked away and taken to be evaluated and prepared for a long journey ahead. Ever since I could remember babies and the nursery at the hospital have fascinated me. Whenever we would go visit a friend who had a baby, I would find myself peaking over the windows into the nursery. I have known for a while that working in the neonatal intensive care unit is what I want to pursue. Recently I have been looking into nurse practitioners and furthering my education beyond my BSN. Being able to care for these infants in the most critical stages of their life, and being able to provide them the support they need to survive outside the womb seems so satisfying . Neonatal nurse practitioners have years of education, deep history, detailed job description, high demands and some legal issues.

service members who have been deployed to either Iraq or Afghanistan have returned with an range of signs and symptoms that we are now calling post-deployment syndrome (PDS). Traumatic brain injury, combat stress, blast injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, or post-concussive syndrome each fit into the variety of symptoms called PDS. Four hundred thousand previously healthy service men and women now live with PDS that, at times, causes them to be entirely disabled or to suffer so much that they even may take their own lives. This number may seem shocking, however PDS doesn’t just affect these service members, reservists, and veterans, but also their friends, family members, employers, communities, and even the very health care workers who are desperately trying to help them. Surprisingly, despite how common this condition is, it still remains puzzling to fully define and

The US News ranked a Nurse Anesthetist number 4 in the top 100 best jobs of 2016. Although satisfying, a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) is a highly stressful nursing specialty (Phillips, 2010). According to Gouveia (2016), a registered nurse is ranked top 5 in most stressful jobs. Some of the brightest and best CRNAs, even past presidents of the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) have taken their own life because of addiction (Quinlan, 2009). Substance abuse and addiction is a well-known topic unfortunately, it continues to be an issue and struggle everyday for some anesthesia providers. CRNAS are well-educated individuals; however, the prevalence, and relapse rates for substance abuse are alarming. The

Military service members who are and have been deployed to the middle east show high levels of emotional distress and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Both active duty and reserve component soldiers who have experienced combat have been exposed to high levels of traumatic stress. As a consequence, many have gone on to develop a wide range of mental health problems such as PTSD. “According to researchers, PTSD is a long-term reaction to war-zone exposure that can last up to a few minutes, hours, several weeks, and for some a lifetime.” Common symptoms include: emotional numbing, anxiety, feelings of guilt, and depression. If the disorder turns chronic veterans may experience functional impairment (Friedman, M. J. et al., 1994, p.

With advances in medicine, Americans are living longer and with chronic illnesses that require long term medical maintenance. As the population has grown with patients that are aging and becoming sicker in the process, there has presented a shortage of physicians to manage this rise in demand. Now, with the passage of new legislation such as the Affordable Care Act, more patients have access to health care than ever before. Many experts have suggested increasing the utilization of Nurse Practitioners and Physicians assistants as a cost effective resource to tackle to rising cost of healthcare amid a physician shortage in America. Several studies have been performed to assess the viability of these options, to address the advantages and

In the United States alone there are well over three million registered nurses as of 2015, with just over two hundred thousand of that total practicing within the state of Florida (Total Number of Professionally Active Nurses, 2015, n.p.). With that being said, there are many different nursing organizations available within the United States to represent not only the registered nurse, but also to represent the student nurse as well. Several nursing organizations are geared towards specialties, ethnicity, location, education level or gender (Matthews, J., 2012, n.p.). Nursing organizations also lobby federally for the profession as a whole as well as for the public (Schroeder, R., 2013, August, pg.99). For the purpose of this paper I will

It was an uneventful midmorning day, on the general medical floor; a list of patients already drawn out with what needed to be completed during our shift. A group of people huddled together discussing treatment plans and options. At that present time, rounding was just for physicians and physician assistants. But dietitians were recently included, so I got to watch as the providers presented their cases to one another. One individual stood out above the rest as she was presenting to her attending; she was confident, poised, and didn’t skip a beat during her presentation. Once the meeting was completed she sat down next to me and we started talking. She introduced herself as Becky, a physician assistant. Having never heard of the role before, she explained that she does examinations, diagnosing, carrying out investigations, as well as treatments and prescribing. Becky could tell I appeared very interested in this, and asked if I was able to spend some time shadowing to learn more about her role. The next patient she saw, I was able to go in the room with her and watch her examine a new patient, discuss his course of treatment, and follow up with the attending. She took me through the entire process of seeing a new patient from a PA perspective. That was all I really needed to get the wheels in my head turning for a new career.

Homemade explosives are the arsenals of choice by the terrorists not just around the world but also in their own backyards as seen in the recent war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thanks to the hard work of our Department of Defense, many of our soldiers are surviving these blasts due to improvements made to their uniforms and armor. Even though, we have been able to quickly identify and treat their visible injuries; we tend to overlook the more traumatic brain injuries and disorder these soldiers face when they return home to their families. However, the U.S. department of Defense and Veterans Health Administration have raised the awareness of promptly identifying the disabling symptoms of these injuries that may negatively affect the quality of life of our brothers and sisters that sacrifice their lives for our freedom. PTSD is a complicated disorder that affects veterans in general. The department of Veterans Affairs is devoted to provide the best care for our veterans that are diagnosed with this terrible disorder.

The American Nurses Association (ANA) is a full-service professional organization that symbolizes the interests of registered nurses through its constituent and state nurses associations. The ANA implements the nursing profession by raising high standards of nursing practice, honoring the rights of nurses in the work field, promoting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by pushing the Congress and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public. Their mission statement is, “Nurses advancing our profession to improve health for all.” Some of ANA’s main focuses are reformation of the health care system so that it delivers primary health care in the communities, growing roles for