Where do you currently practice?
I am currently no longer providing clinical anesthesia. I work for the USC DNAP program as a didactic instructor, and I am a professor at the UCLA School of Nursing, where I teach in their BSN and NP programs. I am conducting research for veterans with chronic pain at the Greater LA VA Medical Center in West Los Angeles.
What are your favorite cases or anesthesia specialty?
I no longer practice clinically. In my current teaching life at the USC DNAP program, I enjoy teaching research methods and health policy.
What is the most rewarding part of being a CRNA?
For me, it was the emotional rewards of providing service to my patients—relieving their anxiety and pain, giving them emotional support, and being there for their families as they woke up.
What are your passions outside of work?
I love science fiction books and movies. I love my garden and taking care of my home in LA. I’m very active in the Episcopal Church where Greg and I were married. I love having more time for everything in my life now that I’m not tied to an OR anymore, although I miss taking care of patients terribly.
Is there any research, thesis, practice projects, missions, or other anesthesia related work you would like to share with our community?
I wrote a guest editorial for AANA Journal offering suggestions as to how CRNAs could help with the opioid overdose epidemic. I put a research team together at the West LA VA to improve care for patients with chronic pain and substance use disorder. We were awarded an AANA Foundation grant in July, 2017, and I’m currently working on the IRB application. Our objective is to talk with these patients and figure out how we can improve their care. I am on the AANA Foundation Board as the Chair Elect this year, and we have lots of projects examining the quality and cost effectiveness of nurse anesthesia care in the pipeline. I work with the AANA Practice Committee as one of their liaisons on Infection Control, traveling locally and nationally speaking on the topic. Our team just wrote an article for the AANA Journal on meeting safety objectives during anesthesia care while continuing to apply sound infection control principles.
