SRNA Perspective on Handling Parenthood and School

Laura K. Blank, Senior SRNA

York College of Pennsylvania / WellSpan Health Nurse Anesthetist Program

It’s Sunday, and I’m in the middle of my cardiac rotation, with an on-pump aortic valve replacement scheduled for tomorrow. My 3-year-old son is in daycare, and when I awoke this morning to prepare for the week, a notification from his school popped up on my phone --- and a feeling of dread immediately washed over me. Yet again, another unpredictable daycare closure because of COVID-19 exposure. Another week of shuffling schedules, exercising adaptability, and remembering expectations don’t change for my husband’s job and my clinical requirements. Another week of hoping our unvaccinated son doesn’t get sick.

I’d like to say this happens infrequently, but I can recall on two separate occasions my son’s daycare closing the week before finals. My perfectly planned study and paper-writing schedule instantly went up in smoke. All this is on top of the normal daily struggles of trying to juggle school, work, family, and parenting.

It hasn’t all been challenging. The joys that come from working hard and setting a good example for my child give me confidence that my husband and I are paving the way for him in life. We hope we are teaching him kindness, joy, and thankfulness as we adapt to uncertainty. We make sacrifices in other areas to be able to always show him love and attention while prioritizing my schooling and patient care. He may be too young to remember this pandemic season, but perhaps one day he will ask us how we got to where we are. We are teaching him ownership, hard work, and dedication.

As a senior SRNA, the end is in sight. I have an ode to all the other mothers and fathers out there in school. We all have different challenges. Some battle with illness and others need more from their support system than available; there are relationship troubles and financial troubles. School demands time and sacrifice. It’s difficult to miss Mother’s Day trips, big birthday parties, or life events.

Here’s to the parents who put their patients first and still show up for their kids. Here’s to the support systems, the life partners, and the family and friends who jump in to help or understand the absence of time. Here’s to the faculty and preceptors who understand the balance as well. In the end, showing love to our families while learning how to best care for our patients will be worth all the sacrifice in the end.

BU students win Pennsylvania Association of Nurse Anesthetists Spring Symposium competition

Posted: May. 11, 2022 in Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania News

BU's winning team members: left to right: Matthew Moore, Matthew Homishak (holding oxygen tank trophy), Ciana Rollman, Elise Slaughter (in back).

The Geisinger/Bloomsburg University Nurse Anesthesia Program's Class of 2022 students won the annual College Bowl at the Pennsylvania Association Of Nurse Anesthetists (PANA) Spring Symposium in Hershey, Pa.

Bloomsburg's winning team members included Ciana Rollman, Elise Slaughter, Matthew Homishak, and Matthew Moore. The event was hosted by Daniel Fraska, co-founder of APEX Anesthesia.

“Congratulations to our students involved in this competition,” said Dr. Latha Ramakrishnan, Dean of the College of Science and Technology. “The work, they and our faculty members, put in preparing for the event is to be commended. Everyone at Bloomsburg University is proud of them.”

The College Bowl contestants included 11 teams from eight universities across Pennsylvania. The annual competition challenges anesthesia programs from across the region in a test of anesthetic knowledge. The winners will retain possession of the oxygen tank trophy at the BU nurse anesthesia program office until next year's event.

"I’m incredibly proud of our students for winning our program’s first PANA College Bowl competition,” said Debra Minzola, Ph.D., CRNA, program director of the Geisinger/Bloomsburg University Nurse Anesthesia Program and associate professor at Bloomsburg University. “Not only did they get to represent Geisinger and Bloomsburg University while demonstrating their advanced knowledge of anesthesia, but their participation also supports and enhances the profession of nurse anesthesia as a whole.”

The win was the first-ever for Bloomsburg University in the competition.

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Joint State Government Commission Study Suggests Ways to Improve Nurse Licensing

By Robert Swift Capitolwire.com Staff Reporter

HARRISBURG (May 11) – The pathway to licensing nurses could be made smoother by hiring more employees at the state Board of Nursing, better processing of licensing applications and changing the criminal background check process, a new legislative study has concluded.

The study by the Joint State Government Commission concerns delays with issuing nursing licenses by the board.

The House adopted Resolution 142 authorizing this study last year.

The study is part of an overall focus in recent years by the Wolf administration and lawmakers of both parties to remove barriers and streamline the state licensing process for a number of occupations.

As of June 2021, there were more than 300,000 active licenses for five nursing-related occupations in Pennsylvania with registered nurses being the largest category.

The resolution sponsor, Rep. Doyle Heffley, R-Carbon, said recent nursing school graduates have contacted him about delays with the issuance of an Authorization to Test for nursing license applicants.

The state can’t afford lengthy delays in getting health care providers when they have increased demands due to the COVID-19 pandemic and employee burnout, said Heffley in a memo.

The study found that licensing delays were aggravated by the pandemic and retirements of two key board staffers in early 2020. The board said it has restored processing back to pre-pandemic timelines with the rehiring of one of the retirees.

But the commission study said its recommendations can lead to further improvements in licensing.

One recommendation is to provide funds to increase the nursing board complement to 43 employees from 32 employees. This would include two administrative officers and three education certification evaluators.

Another is to enable applicants to make changes in their applications and correct errors that have slowed processing. The board is replacing the current licensing system.

Nursing license applicants are currently required to submit an official state criminal history record check from every state in which they have lived, worked or been educated within the past ten years or five years depending upon the license category.

This has proven a stumbling block for some applicants, the report said. To fix that, the study recommends that an applicant supply the state criminal records check only from their state of residence as well as making an FBI background check mandatory.

The study suggests creating a State Board of Nursing Task Force to review processing issues and prepare Pennsylvania for new quality standards for nursing education published by the American College of Nursing.

The study suggests some changes with the nursing board membership, including potentially having some seats filled by nurses who are elected by nurses holding valid state nursing licenses as North Carolina does.

It recommends the board issue more frequent reports on the nursing workforce.

Pennsylvania enacted a law last year paving the way to enter a multi-state Nursing Licensure Compact.

"The nursing compact is important because it allows a nurse to practice in their home state and all participating states with one license issued by the home state, eliminating the burdensome, costly, and time-consuming process of obtaining single state licenses in each state of practice,” the report said.

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Additional Info from the Jt. State Government Commission

In this episode, the JSGC podcast crew interview Frank Lill, project manager of the report "License Processing Times of the Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing," released in April of 2022. We discuss how long it takes to get a nursing license in Pennsylvania, factors contributing to delays in processing time, and recommendations for how to improve these conditions. A one-page summary and access to the full report are available here.

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