The Anesthesia Record

Chicago was wonderful!  I spent two days meeting some of the "movers and shakers" of the AANA.  We worked hard, played hard, and ate well.  In reference to that last point, I'd like to note that the only photo I took while in the Windy City was of the Chicago style stuffed pizza from Giordanos that I had delivered to my hotel room on Friday evening after arriving at the hotel.  I think it's clear where my priorities lie.

We kicked off the weekend on Saturday morning with a group breakfast, followed by a presentation led by Bernd Schmit, who is originally from Germany, enjoys a good steak, and also happened to pen the book Big Think Strategy: How to Leverage Bold Ideas and Leave Small Thinking Behind.  He did an amazing job of getting everyone in the room to participate in the discussion and to consider major ways in which we could improve our organization and profession.


After the conclusion of Mr Schmit's talk, each committee met to begin reviewing and checking off important items on our individual agendas.  We (members of the Education Committee) reviewed the items covered in the previous meeting before moving on to upcoming issues.  Discussions included the state of nurse anesthesia programs (growth rate of programs, growth rate of clinical sites, and numerical data on the education section of the AANA website to gauge future interest in programs) and the strategic organizational goals and objectives of the AANA Education Committee.  My committee is responsible for putting on or contributing to a number of meetings such as the Assembly of School Faculty (which takes place every February, this year's will be located in Orlando), the Financial Issues Workshop, the New Program Administrator's Workshop, and the Annual Meeting.  Thus, we spent the majority of our time together discussing the proposed agendas for each and making changes based on the evaluations submitted by the previous year's participants.  (I can honestly say that your comments are taken into consideration - so keep those evals coming!)

As a new member of the Education Committee, some of the information that was discussed was a bit "over my head" as it pertained more to educators than to students.  However, at any mention of SRNAs, everyone in the room looked to me for my input.  I was even able to make a few suggestions for the 2012 Assembly of School Faculty that made it onto the proposed agenda!  I felt as though my opinion was solicited and respected and that I, as a student, had a voice in the organization.  Some of the student-related topics that were discussed included improvements to the student section of the AANA website (which, by the way, will be undergoing a major overhaul in the near future as the AANA is well aware of the fact that the website falls short on a number of levels.) and revising the campaign requirements for those running for the position of Student Representative to the Education Committee in the future in an effort to level the playing field and provide more clarity to those interested in running.

All in all, the Joint Committee Meeting in Chicago made for a very exciting weekend and I was so thrilled to have the opportunity to represent my fellow SRNAs at the Education Committee meetings.  I'm also very excited about the upcoming week, as my classmate Adam will be offering a guest post in an attempt to explain the mysterious and ever-elusive concept of pKa.  Prepare your brain for the massive onslaught of knowledge coming its way!