President Robbins Participates in CRNA Simulation Intensive
University of Arizona President Robert C. Robbins, MD, (right) recently visited the Arizona Simulation Technology and Education Center to observe second year Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) students during their simulation. Instead of just observing, he was pressed into service as the surgeon during one simulation. CRNA students Alexa Deng, RN, (left) and Phillip Bullington, RN, assisted Dr. Robbins as he intubated a manikin.
By design, crisis management during the clinical skills intensive for students in the Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) program in the College of Nursing is supposed to be difficult – even stressful. So imagine how a group of second-year CRNA students felt during a recent intensive when they learned University of Arizona President Robert C. Robbins, MD, would be playing the role of surgeon in their simulation. Dr. Robbins and Ki Moore, PhD, dean of the College of Nursing, stopped in on the session at the Arizona Simulation Technology and Education Center to visit with the students and acknowledge the importance of the work they are training to do.
“Having the president and the dean of the College of Nursing join us for this intensive meant a lot to our program and students, as they are not only training in a rigorous program, but also support the projects of the university,” said Kristie Hoch, DNP, CRNA, MS, RRT, program administrator for the Nurse Anesthesia program. “The students loved the fact that President Robbins performed an intubation with them in the sim lab. He did a great job!”
Dr. Hoch said that the future CRNAs are licensed intensive care nurses prior to entering graduate training and will be doctorate-prepared advanced practice nurses who are trained to provide anesthesia and pain management for patients in any setting. She added that it is an extremely competitive three-year program, with over 300 applicants for only 18 openings last year.
Dr. Robbins and Dean Moore spoke to the students between simulations. “Their recognition and support for the intensive training these future frontline health care providers are going through is tremendous for their moral, especially since many of them have continued to work in the ICU during COVID,” said Dr. Hoch.
CRNA student Olu Bello, RN, intubates a manikin during a crisis management clinical skills intensive simulation in the Arizona Simulation Technology and Education Center.
College of Nursing Dean Ki Moore, PhD, (left) listens as C. “Reggie” Elam, PhD, DNAP, CRNA, clinical assistant professor (white coat center), reviews how the CRNA students did in their first simulation of the day.
CRNA student Phillip Bullington, RN, (center), seeks input from University of Arizona President Robert C. Robbins, MD, during the simulation where the “patient’s” breathing was becoming very weak.
CRNA student Phillip Bullington, RN, (right) intubates a manikin as University of Arizona President Robert C. Robbins, MD, holds his hand on the “patient’s” throat to ensure that the procedure is successful.
Kristie Hoch, DNP, CRNA, MS, RRT, (right) program administrator for the CRNA class, talks with her students and University of Arizona President Robert C. Robbins, MD, during a debriefing after the completion of their simulation.
Jim Reed, DNP, CRNA, associate clinical professor, reviews the grading sheet he used while observing the CRNA students during a simulation with University of Arizona President Robert C. Robbins, MD.
John Mougin, RN, performs chest compressions on a manikin during a CRNA critical skills intensive simulation in the Arizona Simulation Technology and Education Center, while University of Arizona President Robert C. Robbins, MD, observes in the background.
The critical skills simulation for the CRNA students is run from the Arizona Simulation Technology and Education Center control room, where staff member Merryl Lopido (left) and Christopher Herring, DNP, CRNA, assistant director nurse anesthesiology, control the high-tech manikin’s vitals and responses as the students work to stabilize the “patient.”
CRNA students Olu Bello, RN, (right) grabs medication to administer to the “patient” while Anastasia Connelly, RN, and Phillip Bullington, RN, keep an eye on the monitor during a critical skills simulation in the Arizona Simulation Technology and Education Center.
Anastasia Connelly, RN, a second-year CRNA resident, plays the role of an OR nurse during a critical skills simulation at the Arizona Simulation Technology and Education Center.
University of Arizona President Robert C. Robbins, MD, who said it had been about 35 years since he had performed an intubation, asked to give it a try after the CRNA students had finished their simulation. The procedure was successful, and the manikin survived.
University of Arizona President Robert C. Robbins, MD, spoke to the class of second-year CRNA students and faculty during a break from their crisis management critical skills simulation. Standing next to Dr. Robbins is Kristie Hoch, DNP, CRNA, MS, RRT, Nurse Anesthesiology program administrator, who planned the crisis management scenarios that ran during the clinical skills intensive.
University of Arizona President Robert C. Robbins, MD, (lower left) as seen through four monitors in the Arizona Simulation Technology and Education Center control room, speaks with the second-year CRNA students and faculty between simulations for their clinical skills intensive.