You are here
Anesthesia and Technology - A Practioners Perspective
After lamenting my lack of input in my hospital's decision to transition to digital anesthesia records I was encouraged by a couple of the comments by CRNAs who were actively involved in the process when their facility made the leap a few years back. I have had some follow up communications with Shannon Scaturro who has agreed to share his experience over the past 10 years.
Shannon, you are about to upgrade the AIMS you have been using for the past 10 years, can you walk us through some of the stages you have passed through over the past decade ? (like anger, bargaining, acceptance, etc)
Anesthesia and Technology - A Student's perspective
As readers of CRNAbiz are aware, I have been frustrated by the transition to digital anesthesia records and I’m curious as to how the next generation of nurse anesthetists are using technology. Through the online CRNA forums I have had a chance to read some of the observations of Joseph Rodriguez, a student nurse anesthetist and he has agreed to answer a few questions and offer his student perspective. 
First of all, Joe, thank you for finding the time to share your insights.
Sure Dennis, my pleasure! Thanks for asking me to speak to you and your readers.
Would you give us an overview of your background and how you decided on nurse anesthesia as a profession?
Game Theory and CRNAs - Links Between Games
Scope
No game is an island. Even so, people draw boundaries and divide the world up into separate games. It's easy to fall into the trap of analyzing these separate games in isolation - imagining that there's no larger game. The problem is that mental boundaries aren't real boundaries - there are no real boundaries. Every game is linked to other games - a game in one place affects games elsewhere, and a game today influences games tomorrow. Even the mere anticipation of tomorrow's game influences today's.
Understanding, playing off and changing links betwen games is the fifth and final lever of strategy. The first step is to recognize the links between games. The links are there. Even if you don't see them, you can still trip over them. Once you've seen the links, you can use them to your benefit. The links aren't ironclad - you can create new links between games or sever existing ones. And by doing so, you can change the scope of the game.
Game Theory and CRNAs - Stirring Up the Fog
The ongoing discussion of Game Theory based on the book Co-opetition.
Simplicity is a virtue - sometimes. Other times you need to make things complicated, even unpredictable. You need to create a fog. A simple game quickly becomes transparent and you may not always want people to see through what you are doing.
In poker, you are unlikely to win a big pot if you bet only when you have a strong hand. That's because, after a while, the other players will see through what you are doing. There will be no fog. They'll realize that whenever you raise, it's because you have a strong hand, and so they will fold. That gives you the opportunity to bluff and win more small pots. You can raise with a weak hand and trick the other players into folding better hands. But you don't want to get caught bluffing - or do you? Professor Tom Schelling, a leading game theorist, has pointed out (what every poker pro knows) that there can be bigger gain from bluffing and getting caught. Now you've really stirred up the fog.
Game Theory, CRNAs and Health Care Reform - Part I
I recognize that the majority of CRNAs do not consider themselves in "business". We typically practice our profession and leave the business side to others. I hope to change some of your perceptions.
Although it may not be practical for each of us to form a "business" in the traditional sense, try shifting your mindset and begin considering your clinical practice as your "business of one". This change in mindset may help you recognize opportunities within your practice enabling you to build the type of practice that best suits your goals.
Electronic Anesthesia Records - Why Aren't We Using Them ?
Over 30 years ago, Anesthesia was one of the first specialties to actually
explore computerization of the clinical episode, according to the Anesthesia Informatics by Jerry Stonemetz and Keith Ruskin,"Early developments at Duke University demonstrated that the entire anesthetic event could be captured electronically." And according to these authors, by the end of 2006, anesthesia information systems (AIMS) had penetrated less than 10 % of the market.
Look at this picture of a 1978 Ohio Anesthesia machine. Would you use this machine to provide anesthesia today ? Of course not so why do we continue to hand write our anesthesia records when the technology has been available to automate this tedious task for many years.
Edible Anesthesia Machine
From http://include.nurse.com/article/20081208/DC02/112080174
The University of Maryland School of Nursing's 2008 nurse anesthetist graduates enjoyed a sweet feast Dec. 5. While celebrating the completion of their master's program, the 25 students were surprised with a cake made by Baltimore's Charm City Cakes, the business owned by well-known chef Duff Goldman.
Goldman and his crew at Charm City Cakes are featured in the Food Network TV series "Ace of Cakes."
The cake, which was from four of the group's fellow graduates, was shaped like an anesthesia gas machine and included impressive details.
