To be or not to be a specialty nurse.
Over the past one hundred years or so, nursing has taken critical blows and has made several changes. A constant battle rages for nurses to gain and retain the respect they deserve. Just as nursing in general struggles to attract young and new nurses to the field, specialty areas of nursing are not exempt from the battle. What is it that specialty nurses want most? According to Larry Stoves, CRNA, specialty nurses want flexible schedules and better staffing. In a field where they are considered the "elite" of nursing, Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists are not without gripes of their own.
At four-thirty in the morning you can find Larry Stoves having his first cup of coffee and preparing for his day. He works from six-thirty in the morning until the surgery schedule is complete. Because Larry is a specialty nurse, he must work unusual hours that require him to spend 2 to 6 nights a month in the hospital. Larry Stoves is a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist and has been working in his specialty area for over 10 years. In discussions with Larry, it was interesting to find that compared to a registered nurse working 12 hour shifts, the CRNA who is working 8 hour shifts also complains about scheduling. So what do they want most? Flexible schedules and less on call shifts. A registered nurse working in an acute care setting usually works 12 hour shifts. She will either work from 7 in the morning to 7 at night or from 7 at night until 7 in the morning. The only flexibility she may be awarded is choosing the days she would like to work and she may pick to work the day shift or the night shift. Although she may have this sort of flexibility, it's not guaranteed that she will get the shift she chooses. A nurse working in the field of anesthesia does not have the same flexibility. Elective surgeries are usually scheduled from Monday through Friday and someone from the anesthesia department must interview the patient prior to their surgery.