The Nurse Anesthesia Podcast

In Episode 26 we welcome a special guest…Rhea Temmermand from the Atomic Anesthesia Podcast! Jeremy talks with Rhea about cognitive aids—like crisis checklists—which are essential tools in anesthesia for guiding rapid decision-making during high-stakes medical emergencies. Originally inspired by aviation’s Crew Resource Management, these aids were adapted for anesthesia…giving rise to Anesthesia Crisis Resource Management (ACRM). U...

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the airways characterized by hyperresponsiveness, variable airflow obstruction, and airway remodeling. In the OR, we’re less concerned about chronic control and more focused on acute airway events…namely, bronchospasm.

Bronchospasm during general anesthesia can be insidious. You may see rising peak airway pressures, decreased tidal volumes, wheezing if you’re lucky…and if you’re unlucky…d...

Episode 23 begins with Jeremy and Sass discussing the historical background of cannabis or “marijuana” use, and then dive into how this psychoactive drug affects each body system. They focus on what you need to know when providing anesthesia for an individual who is a chronic user or acutely intoxicated. Get ready…it’s go time! 

References

1. Horvath C, et al. “Marijuana Use in the Anesthetized Patient: History, Pharmacology, a...

Episode Summary

Monitoring the depth of anesthesia, as a CRNA, is important for any surgical or medical procedure. In this episode of The Nurse Anesthesia Podcast, Jeremy and Sass review the bispectral index (BIS) monitor. They discuss the various electroencephalographic (EEG) waveforms the BIS monitor uses to determine depth of anesthesia, and identify the factors and medications that influence the BIS monitor. They finish the epis...

In this episode of The Nurse Anesthesia Podcast, Jeremy discusses questions and answers from the previous TNA podcast episodes 14 - POCUS of the Cricothyroid Membrane, 15 - How Anesthesia uses Ketamine, 19 - Push-dose Vasopressors, and 20 - Vasoplegic Syndrome.

Here are several examples of questions he discusses in the episode. For a complete review of all the questions, check out the episode wherever you listen to podcasts!

1. Which...

In this episode of The Nurse Anesthesia Podcast, Jeremy & Sass discuss what happens when the routine treatments for intraoperative hypotension don’t work, and focus on the interventions you can consider when refractory hypotension occurs. They talk about different causes of refractory hypotension with a focus on vasoplegic syndrome. They discuss the differences between refractory hypotension and vasoplegic syndrome, and then id...

Anesthesia induced hypotension is commonly treated with push dose vasopressors. Today Jeremy & Sass dive into what the evidence is showing us about the use of phenylephrine, ephedrine, and norepinephrine IV bolus doses. We talk about cerebral oxygen concentrations and cardiac output when administering these vasopressors, and ultimately ask ourselves…should we be less pushy?
References

1. Kee W, et al. Randomized double-blin...

Episode Summary 

Point of care ultrasound (POCUS) assessments of the airway is simply awesome! By utilizing POCUS during our preoperative airway examination, we can now determine with a greater certitude the level of difficulty of a patient’s airway as well as locate anatomical structures (such as the cricothyroid membrane) and endotracheal tube positioning within the airway. 

In today’s episode Jeremy and Mark go over basic ultraso...

Episode Summary

Every fourth episode we will release a podcast where we ask and answer questions about an anesthesiology or pharmacological topic and we’ll call it ANESTHESIA Q&A. We do this to help our community solidify their learning! We also produce these episodes because nurse anesthesia students and practicing CRNAs are all engaged in answering questions whether it be on exams during anesthesia school or for CRNA recertifi...

We all experience acute stress. Sometimes on a daily basis. In this episode Jeremy breaks down acute stress and talks about the anatomy and physiology of stress. He reviews a theory on how highly stressful situations can both physiologically and psychologically affect our thinking and performance. He also points out how a certain amount of acute stress is actually helpful.

Then Jeremy discusses the meaning of BVM and how breathing, ...

In Episode 15 of the Nurse Anesthesia Podcast, Jeremy and Sass dive into the pharmacological world of ketamine. They talk about all the anesthesia situations where it can be useful. They discuss the pharmacology of ketamine, appropriate dosing, what the current evidence really shows about its use with increased intracranial pressure, and how it is frequently used for analgesia. It really is the Swiss army knife of anesthetic meds!<...

In this episode Jeremy and Mark focus on the cricothyroid membrane. They discuss the anatomy, sizing, vasculature and orientation of this important airway landmark. They then highlight techniques for palpating the cricothyroid membrane, and finish up with a discussion that explains how to use Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) to mark where exact position of this membrane is on the neck. This is an episode you won’t want to miss!

In today’s podcast Jeremy and Mark review several anesthesia concepts that were covered in previous episodes…specifically Malignant Hyperthermia, Pulse Oximetry, and Adrenal Crisis. 

As educators we know it’s important to revisit and review anesthesia concepts in order to help with long term memory retention. There’s actually a learning technique called 

spaced learning (or spaced repetition) where information is reviewed at increasi...

In today’s episode Jeremy and Sass start by diving into normal physiologic function of the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) Axis. They then review how it’s regulated and the pathology/medications that can alter the HPA Axis. After that, it’s all about the adrenal glands, and Jeremy and Sass differentiate between Acute Adrenal Crisis and Adrenal Insufficiency. They talk about why chronic steroid use puts patients at risk for Adr...

Episode Summary

Nitrous oxide is one the OG of anesthesia gases and is one of three gases pipped into our anesthesia gas machine. It’s known on the anesthesia workstation by the color blue. In this episode Jeremy and Mark discuss the current use of nitrous oxide and both it’sdesirable and undesirable effects. Gear up to review or learn about the “Original Blue Gas”!

Resources/information discussed in podcast

You can pick up ...

This is a special episode where Jeremy & Sass talk with the one and only Dr. John Nagelhout, PhD, CRNA, FAAN. They talk with him about what it was like when he first went to anesthesia school, his transition into academics, how he gathered a group of CRNAs together to write the very first Nurse Anesthesia textbook, and the thousands of lives he’s influenced with his pharmacology lectures. 

There’s a reason we call him the “Grand...

Episode Summary

The pulse oximeter is a primary anesthesia and critical care monitor. Not only does it help identify hypoxemia, but it provides several other pieces of essential information when monitoring a patient during anesthesia and surgery. 

In this episode, we go over how the pulse oximeter functions, the current advantages and disadvantages, and other practical considerations that make pulse oximetry monitoring simple awesome...

This is our second Q&A episode and in this one, we review the anesthesia gas machine! We go over all the different pressure systems, variations in some of the anesthesia machines, we talk about some monitoring issues, and review content that falls within the anesthesia technology category…basically we talk about the stuff you will be tested on. There are sure to be some pearls you won’t want to miss!

About The Nurse Anesthesia

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