Shadowing a Certified anesthesiologist assistant Day 1

I finally shadowed a CAA. A CAA is a Certified anesthesiologist assistant. So I do plan on applying to CAA school in 2024. In order to apply you need at least 8 hours of shadowing. So I found a CAA from youtube, and I reached out to her, and she is allowing me to shadow her for 2 days! Now she was located 4 hours away from me. So I had to travel 4 hours to her to be able to shadow. I booked a hotel that was 5 minutes away from the hospital she works at. She is located in the Tampa Area, so if you're interested in shadowing opportunities in Florida let me know, and I can get you in touch with her. So when I arrived in Tampa on Sunday, after a 4 hour drive, I was exhausted. The hotel I booked was clean, and inviting. However I was homesick, and I missed my daughter already. The drive wasn't too bad. I only stopped once. I did have to change 2 of my tires before I started the drive. So after resting Sunday night, I woke up bright and early, ready to shadow. So I had to be at the hospital at 6:45 am. So I woke up at 6:00 am, quickly showered, ate breakfast at the hotel and went on my way. I had to sit and wait in the lobby for someone to come get me. She did take a while to respond to my text, so I decided to call her. She told me she had to quickly run to an emergency c-section case, and would have another CAA come get me. So I sat and waited until the other person came to get me. Once picked up, she took me straight to the girls locker room. The hospital provides scrubs for the OR, so there was no need to bring your own scrubs. So I quickly changed and then she took me straight to the CAA I would be shadowing for the day. I walked in and she had already started. On the operating table, the pregnant mom laid and we were getting ready for a baby to be born. I've witnessed babies being born before, but this was my first time watching a c section. As the CAA, she went and had to numb her through the spine. So from below the chest, and down she was numb so that the mom could still be awake, and wouldn't feel any pain. I didn't realize that CAAs did so much. They do a little bit of everything. Less than 20 minutes later, a new baby was born. It was exciting ! I'm so glad I came to shadow. This experience really help me know that this is what I want to do. The next 3 cases was a knee surgery, a breast cancer case, and a gall bladder removal. Now if you want to be a CAA you have to like surgery. Even though you're doing anesthesia, you still see a lot of the actual surgery. You also are working as a team. You help prep the patient for surgery, and you also help with transporting the patient out of surgery. You also do interviews on the patient to know their medical history. Basically everything. You also barely get a break. We ran from one case to another. You only get a break if you're case finishes, and the next one doesn't start for a while. But even then you probably will have to take over for another CAA that may be in a long case so they can get a break. Like I said it's a team model, with the anesthiologist and the other anesthesia providers, and of course the surgery team. Here are a few pictures from day 1. I'll do another post tomorrow for Day 2. BYE!!!