Anesthesia Guidebook

Jon Lowrance
  • 4.8 (185)
  • MEDICINE
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Anesthesia Guidebook

Anesthesia Guidebook is the go-to guide for providers who want to master their craft. We help anesthesia providers thrive in challenging, high-stakes careers through our relevant, compelling guides. You’re on a path to becoming a master anesthesia provider. We’re your go-to guide for deepening your anesthesia practice.

  1. 5 DAYS AGO

    #113 – Sabbatical in Spain with Matt Moody, CRNA

    Matt & Alison Moody took a year off of working as CRNAs to live and travel in Spain with their then 4-year old daughter. This is part of that story. Matt & Alison Moody in Granada, Spain The two were living and working as CRNAs in Asheville, North Carolina when they caught the idea to take a year off of work and live in Spain. Their journey to Spain went from the fall of 2023 to the fall of 2024 and over the last few months, they’ve been re-integrating back to the United States and Western North Carolina and back to their careers as CRNAs. Part of their inspiration to take a year off work came from listening to the episode I did with Kyle & Jen Steen on their decision to sell everything, build out a sprinter van and hit the road. That story is in episode 73. Side note: Kyle & Jen took about 18 months off from work before Kyle returned to his career in anesthesia through locum assignments. They’re still in the van full time and still crossing off new places to live & explore. I hope to have them back on the show soon! Matt & Alison wanted to head to Spain to work on their Spanish language skills and take time to connect with each other as a family. What they discovered along the way may surprise you. In this conversation with Matt, he walks us through what they set out to do and how that changed over time – from before they left through how their experience evolved while they were over in Spain. I think you’ll enjoy this story and hopefully find some inspiration for yourself to think outside of the box and consider what might be possible in your own life. It doesn’t have to be taking a sabbatical or selling everything and hoping in a custom built Sprinter van. It might be about re-prioritizing your work-life balance in other ways. It might be going back to school or picking up pottery like my wife, Kristin. It might be about moving to that area of the country you’ve always wanted to live in or finding a new way to explore your passions. Finding a way to prioritize your own story, dreams and aspirations along the way is possible and I loved chatting with Matt to hear how he & Alison arranged their life to pursue their goals. Matt grew up in coastal North Carolina; went to college and nursing school at UNC Chapel Hill; and then received his CRNA degree at Wake Forest. His heart and soul have always belonged in the Pacific Northwest, so after graduate school he moved west and started his career at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle, WA. Eventually, the pull of family brought him back to NC, and he has called Asheville home since 2017. Thus far in his career, Matt has had the fortune to gain experience in many practice areas – from major trauma hospitals to small surgery centers – and has experience in many subspecialties of anesthesia. In his free time, Matt loves to spend time being active outdoors, but he’s especially passionate about rock climbing and skiing. Lately, he and his wife, Alison, have been experiencing the joys (and frustrations!) of introducing their 5 year-old daughter to these activities. While in Spain, Alison created an Instagram page that they invite you to follow. It’s @ La Moody Aventura. @lamoodyaventura Matt also offers his email to anyone who might have questions about how they did what they did. In the show, he talks about how they felt like they were the only ones crazy enough to do something like this but then actually met several folks abroad – including another CRNA family from the States –...

    1h 38m

  2. JAN 25

    #112 – How to Transition from Clinician to Chief CRNA

    What’s up y’all! This is Jon Lowrance and this is episode 112 – How to Transition from Clinician to Chief CRNA. Y’all are going to love this conversation. So… I almost don’t know where to begin cause there’s so much to talk about… This is an episode about chief CRNAs but so much more. It’s like when you watch one of those food documentaries about the best pizza kitchens in the world and you’re like: oh, a documentary about pizza, but then it’s really about the experience of chefs, small business owners, friendship and passion. This episode is like that. It’s about chief CRNAs. And we have a couple of guests that are going to talk with us about an article they published on the research they did into the professional experience of chief CRNAs. But this story is really about the transition that most healthcare providers take when they take the step from expert provider to clinician-leader, practice manager or owner. You’re going to see this through the lens of what these 2 researchers saw when they did a qualitative analysis of chief CRNAs across the state of North Carolina. But you might take something away from this about the physician who leads your team or the CMO or health system president that runs the show where you’re at. If you work in healthcare, cause you probably do – again, unless you’re my mom, who listens to all these podcasts – hey Gail! But for the rest of you, if you’re in healthcare, this episode will likely help you understand your clinical leaders better. I never set out to be a chief CRNA or practice manager. I wanted to be the best clinician I could. I wanted to stand in the gap between the chaos and the outcome. I wanted to master my craft as an anesthesia provider and take the best care of patients possible. Literally, like 6 months before our chief CRNA announced that he was going to step down after 8 years in his role, I had the opportunity to become a daily shift supervisor – like a board runner in the OR. I was like: I’m never going to do that. It seems way too hard. Then our chief stepped down and his role opened up and I was like… wellllllllll… This episode hopefully will be relevant to any clinician who, like me, has stepped into a role or is thinking about taking on a clinical practice leadership role that maybe they’re not totally ready for. You’re not alone. So we’re going to talk with Austin Cole and Robert Whitehurst, co-authors of an article about the competencies & professional development needs of chief CRNAs that was published in April 2024 in the AANA Journal. Austin framed his doctoral project at Duke University around this study. Austin Cole, DNP, CRNA began his career after graduating from the school of nursing at UNC-Chapel Hill. Following graduation, he spent two years as a Registered Nurse in a cardiothoracic critical care unit. He received his DNP and nurse anesthesiology training at Duke University and currently practices as a CRNA at Duke Regional Hospital in Durham, NC. Robert Whitehurst is the President of Advanced Anesthesia Solutions, a CRNA practice providing anesthesia services to a variety of outpatient practices. He graduated in 1997 from East Carolina University School of Nursing with his Bachelor of Science in Nursing and in 2004 from Duke University School of Nursing with his Master of Science in Nursing. Bob Whitehurst is also the Chairperson for the North Carolina Association of Nurse Anesthetist’s Political Action Committee and he’s passionate about patient access to high quality anes...

    52 min

  3. 11/24/2024

    #111 – How to do Medical Mission Trips with Stacey Such, CRNA

    What’s up yall! This is Jon Lowrance and this is episode 111 – How to Prepare for Medical Mission Trips with Stacey Such, MSN, CRNA. (Stacey pronounces her last name, Such, like “Suke/Duke.”) Before we get to this show, I’d like to give a quick shout out to the CRNAs, SRNAs & physician anesthesiologists who made it to Encore’s conference in Bar Harbor back in October as well as the Maine and Arizona State Association of Nurse Anesthesiology conferences, which were also in October. I had the privilege of speaking at all three of these conferences and really loved getting to see some of you out there. We had 2 SRNAs in Bar Harbor from different programs who came to that conference because they heard about it right here on the podcast, which is awesome! Somebody else in Bar Harbor let me know that after they listened to the episode on how ondansetron prevents spinal induced hypotension – which I recorded way back in 2021 with Jenny Li in episode 16, this guy went and did his own deep dive on the topic, ended up presenting on it at his group and they changed their whole practice as a group in managing c-sections. That’s amazing. I have so much respect for yall out there on the front lines, working to master your craft and make a difference for your patients. So, it’s always a blast to get to hang out with you in person at these conferences. On that note, for 2025, I’ll be back with Encore Symposiums down in Hilton Head, South Carolina in May and back at the Cliff House in October. That’s May 19-22 at Hilton Head Island in South Carolina and October 20-23 at the Cliff House Resort in Cape Neddick, Maine and those are with Encore Symposiums. All right, in this episode, Stacey gives us a run down on how healthcare providers can prepare for short term medical mission work. Stacey has been a CRNA since 2012 when she completed her Master of Science at Middle Tennessee School of Anesthesia. She worked as a CRNA for just over 10 years prior to returning to graduate school to complete her Doctorate in Nurse Anesthesia Practice at Virginia Commonwealth University. She framed her doctoral project around short term medical mission trips, their impact on global health and how healthcare providers can prepare to engage in this work. In this show, you’ll hear what motivate Stacey to engage with this work following a deeply personal tragedy. You’ll hear stories about her time serving with Mercy Ships, Samaritan’s Purse and the World Health Organization. Stacey walks listeners through her 8-step guide for how to prepare for medical mission work. This is an excellent introduction to short term mission work and will hopefully inspire you to get involved in serving others in new ways and give you a guide for where to start. Stacey included her 1-page guide to preparing for medical mission work in the show notes to this episode. She’s titled this Global Anesthesia Outreach: A Comprehensive guide To Preparing for Medical Mission Work. Global Anesthesia Outreach: A Comprehensive guide To Preparing for Medical Mission Worka href="https://anesthesiaguidebook.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Global-Anesthesia-Outreach_-A-Comprehensive-guide-To-Preparing-for-Medical-Mission-Work.

    52 min

  4. 10/30/2024

    #110 – How we do interviews with Alison Kent & April Bourgoin

    What up yall. This is Jon Lowrance with Anesthesia Guidebook. This is episode #110 – How we do interviews with Alison Kent, MSN, CRNA & April Bourgoin, DNAP, CRNA. In this episode, April, Alison & I talk about how we conduct CRNA interviews as a leadership team with our Department of Anesthesiology at MaineHealth – Maine Medical Center. Maine Med is the only level 1 trauma center in the state of Maine with 700-licensed beds. We run around 60 anesthesia sites of service a day with a staff of just over 130 CRNAs, 50 physician anesthesiologists, a physician residency & fellowship program and have clinical affiliations with 4 different nurse anesthesiology training programs. Alison Kent is the Manager of CRNA Services at Maine Medical Center and completed her Master of Nursing in anesthesia at the University of New England in 2006. She’s been at Maine Medical Center as a CRNA for nearly 20 years and has served in the Manager role since 2017. April Bourgoin is one of two Supervisors of CRNA Services at Maine Medical Center and completed her Master of Science and Doctor of Nurse Anesthesia Practice degrees at Virginia Commonwealth University in 2017.  Prior to becoming a CRNA, she served for eight years as an active duty commissioned officer in the Army as flight nurse with the 82nd Airborne Dustoff medevac team. She served two combat tours prior to transferring to the Army Reserves at the rank of Major. April joined me on episode 93 of Anesthesia Guidebook where we talked about OR fires and this is Alison’s first, but certainly not last, appearance on the show! These 2 folks are part of the core CRNA leadership team at Maine Medical Center. Together, they truly make the world go round for our team and are like the glue that holds everything together. It’s an absolute privilege to get to work closely with these folks on a daily basis and I couldn’t be more thrilled to have pulled them in on this podcast about how we do interviews. So, let’s tee this up a bit. In today’s anesthesia market, you can go anywhere and make a great money and do interesting cases but the thing that will differentiate your experience with a group is the culture of the team. And your experience of that culture begins with your interview. It actually begins a little earlier than that, even, with how the reputation of the team reaches you – maybe through things like this podcast, or when you reach out to inquire about a group or talk with friends & colleagues who may work or have worked with a particular group. But a really important deep dive into the culture of the team will come on interview day. You should meet some core folks on the team – CRNAs, physicians, trainees, administrative specialists. You should get in the operating rooms and actually see the staff do the work that you’re looking to join them in. You should leave the interview with a very clear idea of what you’re potentially getting yourself into, both in terms of culture and with a thorough run down of the benefits and compensation package. If you’re listening to this and you’re a practice manager or thinking about getting into a role in which you support your team as a leader, hopefully you find this podcast super helpful. Alison, April & I talk through our process & structure for interviews, what kinds of questions we ask, what we look for in candidates and how we work to both recruit folks and protect our culture by making sure we’re bringing in people who are a good ...

    54 min

  5. 09/01/2024

    #109 – Leadership 101 – Why it Matters

    What’s up yall! This episode dives into fundamental concepts related to leadership and casts a message for why it matters to all of us. Whether you’re primarily a clinical CRNA/physician anesthesiologist, resident/SRNA, a practice leader/manager, business owner, educator, researcher or policy advocate, leadership has a fundamental role in your day to day life. In this episode, we talk about: The art & science of leadership Position, power, influence Leadership & management  Leadership & followership Culture, and how we influence it  The Servant Leadership Model  Jocko’s leadership principles I’m pulling from my time as an instructor with Landmark Learning and NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School), both outdoor education schools that thread leadership principles through their risk management and wilderness medicine programs. I’m also pulling from my experience as the chief CRNA at Maine Medical Center, a level 1 trauma center with over 200 staff in the anesthesia department. And some of the content is coming from the work I’m doing as I pursue a PhD in organizational leadership with a research focus on how high performance teams operate in emergencies. Hopefully you’ll find something you can hang your hat on here. Leadership is the art and science of influencing others to achieve shared goals. There’s a ton of different leadership styles & theories out there and I’ll touch on some in the podcast. My personal approach is the Servant Leadership Model, which flips the traditional organizational chart – a pyramidal/triangular structure – on its head and puts the leader at the bottom of the triangle and the most important staff up at the top. The most important folks in any organization are those who are doing the front line work to deliver on the mission and vision of the organization. In the Servant Leadership Model, these folks are the top and the leaders and managers are positioned below them. The job of leaders and managers is to support and empower the folks above them to do their best work in robust and resilient environments where the capacity for the right thing to happen flourishes. No big deal right? To find out more, check out the podcast! Servant Leadership ModelDownload Leadership Tactics By Jocko Willink Be humble  Don’t act like you know everything  Listen, ask for advice & heed it Treat people with respect  Take ownership of failures Pass credit for success up & down the chain of command Work hard  Have integrity – do what you say, say what you do Be balanced – avoid extreme actions/opinions Be decisive  Build relationships = this is the main goal of a leader

    39 min

  6. 07/31/2024

    #108 – AANA Annual Congress Shout Out

    What up yall!  This is a quick shout out to those of you headed to the AANA conference this weekend, August 2nd, 2024 in San Diego.   I hope that yall have an incredible time and meet tons of new colleagues, see old friends and have fun gettin’ your learn on.   I was talking to one of the SRNAs from the University of New England this morning in clinical and she’s was getting psyched for the conference this weekend.  AANA Annual Congress is one of those times where you can kind of lift your head up from the daily grind and look around & see thousands of other CRNAs & SRNAs or RRNAs from around the nation who are all out there doing their thing in anesthesia.  It’s such an inspiring time!  While I will NOT be there reppin’ Anesthesia Guidebook, my clinical team from Maine Medical Center and MaineHealth will be.   So first, why am I not putting up a booth and talking about Anesthesia Guidebook… first & foremost, I’m not trying to sell you something.  Anesthesia Guidebook is still anchored in the concept of free open access medical education.  There’s no subscription fee and I’m not trying to make money off of CE credits.  There’s a hundred other ways out there for you to make Class A credit and that just hasn’t become a professional focus on mine.  Which brings up the reminder that any anesthesia related podcast you listen to will qualify for free Class B credit in the CPC program.  If you’re a CRNA and you routinely listen to anesthesia podcasts, all you have to do is self-report your credits to the AANA and you’ll rack up those Class B credits super fast. I actually did a brief podcast on this topic way back in Episode #9 of the podcast if you want to hear more about how to do that. So while there’s no Anesthesia Guidebook table at AANA Annual Congress, you CAN go meet my good friends and colleagues from Maine Medical Center in the exhibition hall.  April Bourgoin, Jill Guzzardo and Danielle Beaumont will be there staffing the MaineHealth booth to tell yall about the amazing career opportunities within MaineHealth.  We have everything from level 1 trauma center work with my team at Maine Medical Center where I serve as chief CRNA to a  full independent practice location in Conway, NH to several other smaller town medical centers throughout Maine, including Pen Bay Medical Center in Rockland, where Jill is the chief CRNA. So April Bourgoin will be out there this weekend.  Dr April Bourgoin one of our CRNA Supervisors at MMC, and she’s been on the show before talking about OR fires back in episode 93.  I actually just recorded an episode that I’m editing now with April and our CRNA Manager, Alison Kent, on how we do interviews as a leadership team at MMC.  That show is targeted towards other practice managers out there but is obviously also probably valuable for SRNAs as it gives you a behinds the scenes look at how we plan team interviews for people applying to be on our team.  So April’s out there… you can also meet Danielle Beaumont, our SRNA Clinical Coordinator at Maine Medical Center.  Danielle is amazing in that role as she supports SRN As from the University of New England and Middle Tennessee School of Anesthesia.  Danielle also just helped us establish clinical affiliations with Boston College and Northeastern University.  We’re pumped to start welcoming primary anesthesia trainees from BC and NU in 2025.

    7 min

  7. 06/29/2024

    #107 – No Peace in Quiet with Keli Rueth, DNP, CRNA

    What’s up yall this is Jon Lowrance and this is episode 107 – No Peace In Quiet with Keli Rueth. I’m pumped to bring you this conversation with Keli where we discuss her first published novel, No Peace In Quiet.   This episode was so much fun to record and I think you’re really going to enjoy it.  It’s a story that is worth sharing on an anesthesia podcast because it’s a story about how we as anesthesia providers explore the rest of our lives…  how we can step out from our clinical roles as anesthesia providers to express our creativity and joy in a different way than being mixologists and potion makers in the OR.   In this episode, Keli and I talk through her process and approach to finding her passion for writing and how she has snuck that in to the nooks and crannies of her life between working as a mother, full time CRNA and professor of anesthesiology at the University of New England.   Keli Rueth is the pen name of Dr Keli Scrapchansky, who, by the way, was one of my favorite people on planet earth even before I knew she was a novelist.  Keli started her career at Maine Medical Center just a few months before my wife, Kristin, and I did back 2015.  She graduated with her Master’s in Anesthesia from Old Dominion University in 2014 and went on to complete her Doctor of Nursing Practice at the University of North Florida.  Keli is one of those people who shows up anywhere with a smile on her face and brightens up the room she walks into.  It’s incredibly difficult to get through a conversation of any length with her without laughing about whatever topic is on the table.  She’s an easy conversationalist, a masterful clinician and educator and now, a published novelist.   No Peace In Quiet is Keli Rueth’s first novel in a trilogy, the next volume of which has a planned release for later this summer.  I thoroughly enjoyed reading No Peace In Quiet and literally couldn’t stop turning the pages as the story developed and unfolded in the small town and surrounding mountains of Quiet, North Carolina. You can check out Keli’s book at kelirueth.com. And with that, let’s get to the show!

    43 min

  8. 05/30/2024

    #106 – What we know about anesthesia school formatting – Cassie Capps

    What’s up yall! I am back after a few months off from the podcast. This is episode 106 – following up: what we know about anesthesia school formatting with Cassie Capps. This is a follow up show to the episode that Cassie brought to us back in December on the effects of anesthesia school didactic formatting on resident wellbeing… whether in-person, online, synchronous or asynchronous styles have any effect on your wellbeing as a trainee. Before we get to this show, I’ve got a couple updates for you… our crew at Maine Medical Center has been on a bit of tour this spring attending conferences, job fairs and universities telling the story about our team and why we may be where you want to invest your career as an anesthesia provider. Cat Godfrey & April Bourgoin were just down at AANA’s Mid Year Assembly in Washington D.C. and then Cat made her way on to University of North Carolina at Greensboro to chat with the residents at Terry Wick’s program. She followed up dropping in on UNC-G with a virtual lunch & learn session with Mary Baldwin University’s anesthesia program over in Virginia. And then, Kristin and I just returned last week from Florida International University’s job fair down in Miami. We were so happy to know that even the locals thought it was super hot cause oooooooo….eeeeeeee… it was swimmy humid and all kinda hot down in the Sunshine State. We were stoked to meet a bunch of FIU anesthesia residents and tell yall about our absolutely gorgeous summers and four season climate up in Maine and how we’re probably where you want to start your career if you’re looking for a top notch level 1 trauma center to be at where you’re treated with respect, well-supported and want to join a thriving team that has a ton of fun working together. Just saying. Part of my intention with Anesthesia Guidebook is to help CRNAs make a successful transition to practice and if you’re looking to do high acuity work in a busy tertiary medical center surrounded by an amazing team and in a phenomenal location, drop me a line and we can chat. I’d love to tell you more about our crew and see if we’re a good fit for where you’re headed. In other news, this fall I’m teaching at Encore Symposium’s Autumn in Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park conference. If you’re looking for a spot to come knock out some continuing education this year, Encore is headed back to Bar Harbor, Maine, which is just outside of Acadia National Park, from October 14-17. If you’ve never been to Acadia, or Bar Harbor or Maine… this is your chance. Come check it out. Acadia in October is simply stunning… a national park, on an island, in Maine. With your anesthesia friends! You’ll be hard pressed to find a cooler spot to come get your learn on. Hope to see you there! All right… with that, let’s get to this show. Cassie Capps is back. We first heard from Cassie in late December 2024 on episode 99 of Anesthesia Guidebook and now she’s back to walk us through the impact of anesthesia school didactic formatting on resident wellbeing. Thank to everyone who took Cassie’s survey and provided your insights… the data was actually a bit surprising so let me re-introduce Cassie to you and then she’s gonna get right to it. This podcast was part of Cassie Capps’ Doctor of Nursing Practice in anesthesiology program at the University of Arizona. Prior to anesthesia training,

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About

Anesthesia Guidebook is the go-to guide for providers who want to master their craft. We help anesthesia providers thrive in challenging, high-stakes careers through our relevant, compelling guides. You’re on a path to becoming a master anesthesia provider. We’re your go-to guide for deepening your anesthesia practice.

Information

  • Creator
    Jon Lowrance
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2025
  • Episodes
    113
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Except where otherwise noted, the content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
  • Show Website
    Anesthesia Guidebook

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