Rutgers Nursing Magazine - Summer 2020

NURSE ANESTHETISTS, WHO’VE GONE ON TO WORK IN HOSPITALS AND CLINICS ACROSS THE U.S.” with more than 20 partners across New Jersey and the New York metropolitan area. During their clinical training, nurse anesthesia residents administer general, regional, and local anesthesia through a variety of techniques, including intra- venous infusion and epidural and spinal blocks, in specialties ranging from obstet- rics and pediatrics to neurosurgery and cardiothoracic surgery. Merging Science and Empathy Like nurses in every specialty, CRNAs tend to be particularly cognizant of their patients’ emotional needs. “A huge part of our job,” says Pallaria, “is allaying our patients’ fears.” Humor, he notes, is a tool he’s used throughout his professional life. “I can usually get them to laugh as they’re falling asleep and laugh when they’re wak- ing up,” he adds. “We don’t just push med- ication and knock people out—we’re clinicians, number one.” This combination of science and empathy has been put to the test during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nurse anesthetists once again answered the call and as- sumed leadership roles on the front line to work as part of a critical care manage- ment team—whether intubating patients in respiratory failure, inserting lines to establish hemodynamics, or working directly with intensivists and critical care nurses to manage the complex disease process that COVID-19 presented. “We had to adapt quickly, as all CRNAs must, to deliver excellent care to the most critical (L-R) Anesthesia students Alexa Aitkens, Chase Parrish, Ayah Abdallah, Stephen Landell, John Tomasello (‘20), Allen Chu, Sonja Schwartzbach, and Bernadette Antunes. patients,” Pallaria says. “I have always been proud of my colleagues and CRNAs every- where, and this difficult experience has only intensified my commitment to the profession and health care in general.” n R U T G E R S N U R S I N G / S U M M E R 2 0 2 0 24 / 25