Awakened Anesthetist

Season 3 Finale: Reflections and Interviews LIVE from AAAA 2024

• Season 3 • Episode 51

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In the Season 3 finale of Awakened Anesthetist Podcast wander with me through the buzzing AAAA 2024 conference halls and catch my takeaways after I return home. You'll get to eavesdrop on spontaneous chats with CAAs from all points along the journey. From the student who shares the resilience needed to thrive in the OR, to a practicing CAA's insight into work-life balance and financials. We're throwing out the rules of propriety and candidly discussing salaries, transcripts and schedules, because transparency is a cornerstone of this podcast and my work as a CAA. 

Awakened Anesthetist will return Fall 2024 with all new episodes, new CAA voices and new ways to use your CAA career to build a life you love. 


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Mary Jeanne:

Welcome to the Awakened Anesthetist podcast, the first podcast to highlight the CAA experience. I'm your host, mary Jean, and I've been a certified anesthesiologist assistant for close to two decades. Throughout my journey and struggles, I've searched for guidance that includes my unique perspective as a CAA. At one of my lowest points, I decided to turn my passion for storytelling and my belief that the CAA profession is uniquely able to create a life by design into a podcast. If you are a practicing CAA, current AA student or someone who hopes to be one, I encourage you to stick around and experience the power of being in a community filled with voices who sound like yours, sharing experiences you never believed possible. I know you will find yourself here at the Awakened Anesthetist Podcast. Welcome in, hello Awakened Anesthetist community. Welcome to this season three closer of Awaken Anesthetist podcast. You may not have realized that this is the last episode that I will be airing to really complete season three. I'm going to be taking a summer break and then I'll return for season four of this podcast in the fall. If you're not already following me on Instagram, I would suggest doing so at Awakened Anesthetist. I'm definitely going to announce the launch date for season four there on Instagram. I also will create a little trailer that plays here on the podcast. So if you are subscribed, wherever you listen, you should get the direct download. I'm really excited about the CAA voices and the stories that I plan to share. I also will be diversifying the type of content I deliver. Pretty sure I'm going to begin to offer more than just one episode a month. I don't want to box myself in, I don't want to commit to anything right now, but I'm pretty sure that a bunch of things are going to be changing. I will let you guys all in on the details, especially if you follow me on Instagram. You'll probably have a sneak peek at how my life is progressing over the summer. But there's just some big changes happening for me and I want to be really intentional about what I say I am or am not going to do, and I want to be sure that I'm not just functioning on caffeine and passion, but I'm doing things that are sustainable and that are going to really move the needle for our profession in the ways that my heart feels called to work and to move our profession. So follow me on Instagram Also, of course, here at the podcast, and sign up for my newsletter if you haven't done so already. That is a great way to stay in contact and there is always that link in the bottom of the show notes to sign up for the newsletter.

Mary Jeanne:

Okay, so, before I go, I thought it would be interesting to share my takeaways from the Quad A conference, as well as share the live recorded interviews I did with you all those of you who are listening right now, possibly prospective AAs who are at the conference, aa students who are at the conference and then practicing CAAs that are at the conference. I just randomly walked up to people and said, hey, do you want to do a quick little live interview? And many of you said yes, and so the last half of this episode today will be those live interviews. There is so much wisdom and like truth bombs dropped in those. I know it is going to be super helpful, no matter what stage of the game you are here in your CAA journey. And in case you are new to the CAA profession, the Quad A conference is well, first of all, the Quad A stands for American Academy of Anesthesiologists Assistance. It is our national governing body. We have a president, we have a board of directors. It currently is an all-volunteer committee. Everyone, even the president, does it as a volunteer, and each year, another volunteer committee within the Quad A plans this yearly meeting, and this year we had our meeting in Orlando, florida, over the weekend of April 12th through the 14th, and you probably heard me talking about being nervous to speak. It was a really big conference. It was the biggest one we've had to date. There were 1,100 CAAs, aa students and prospective AAs there and, to put that in perspective, there's only 3,700 CAAs practicing in the entire nation. So this was a huge chunk of us all gathered together. There were conferences and lectures all day, there were little side meetings and there were big, huge meetings and, yeah, it was a really great time to network, to just be in community with a bunch of people who do the same thing that you do, and there are a lot of ideas shared and a lot of big moments, and so I think it's important to share my takeaways from the conference. I also think it'll be fun because you'll hear in the background some of the texture and noise going on from the conference when you listen to the live interviews that I share in the really back half of this episode today. So let's get into my takeaways, because I had low, so many takeaways.

Mary Jeanne:

I am a journaler. I don't know that I've exactly shared that specifically. I started journaling sort of my feelings and because of therapy and anxiety and OCD, and just kind of got into writing, even though I have always considered myself a horrible writer and a horrible reader. I sort of tried to explore it and see how it felt and, interestingly, I really enjoy journaling and so I fall back to journaling often when I'm feeling stressed, overwhelmed. And frankly, I journal a little bit every morning, mostly now, especially the mornings where I get up on time and have you know that precious 30 or 45 minutes before I have to go in to the operating room or before my kids get up, if it's a home day for me.

Mary Jeanne:

So I was looking back on my journal and I journaled the Thursday before I left. It looks like I probably journaled that morning. I got on a flight about 4 pm on Thursday and then the conference started on Friday and then I journaled on the 14th, which was 12. I journaled that on Sunday morning. So I had to stay in my room Sunday morning and just journaled out everything that I could remember or wanted to remember about the past really 48 hours and how it felt and what it made me think and know and feel, and so I wanted to share some of those, because some of them, looking back now, were pretty profound and pretty meaningful, and I truly felt like I was sitting at the inflection point of our profession, like being at the Quade Conference in 2024.

Mary Jeanne:

It was palpable that moving forward, like the next five years moving forward are going to be so much more meaningful in terms of our growth and our impact as a profession than the last 50 years combined. There's just going to be so many more CAAs over the next five years that we will quickly outnumber the 3,700 CAAs that are in existence now. It really was palpable. When you walked in the room, it was just this energy that we were all sort of. A lot of the efforts had finally paid off. There was some momentum Maybe that's what the energy was momentum and then there was this kind of like all right, what's next? Like where are we going to go with this? And so a lot of my takeaways have to do with that energy, because that was just electric, for me at least, and I think other people as well, but for me for sure, throughout the conference, and I also think personally, I was just in this headspace where I had achieved a lot of my dreams in person, like at this conference.

Mary Jeanne:

There are several professional things that I wanted to do that I got to do this weekend, and so that was my headspace. Okay, let me pull up my journal and I'm just going to like read through some of them, see which ones I want to share, and then I'm going to share some extra on my newsletter. So if you again are subscribed for that, you'll get maybe a few bonus, maybe a few that are a little controversial or a little bit more political or some things that maybe I don't want to shoot out to the entire masses but to a smaller list. So if you're interested in hearing those more sensitive takeaways, then go ahead and subscribe to my newsletter. So, okay, first takeaway I wanted to share, which is at the top of my list, was that the CAA community is supportive and kind.

Mary Jeanne:

I really was blown away by how many CAAs and students came up to me and were just so supportive and kind to me or to the people I was in a group speaking with. There was just this energy where we wanted to sort of be patting each other on the back and be saying just this energy where we wanted to sort of be patting each other on the back and like be saying, hey, I see you, I've been watching you, the work you're doing is awesome. It's sort of an interesting community because most of the people who are doing a lot of the heavy work, the heavy lift in our profession, are volunteers. Everyone on the Quad A committee is a volunteer, the president's a volunteer, a lot of the CAA educators are volunteer. Of course, the program directors and the people who work at the schools are being paid, but in the operating room the people who are boots on the ground training other CAA students are volunteer, largely like maybe you get a free meal or something. And it was just this sense that I see you doing a really hard thing and I want to tell you that and I want to like be out loud with kindness and with my support and it was just awesome. It was a really cool vibe.

Mary Jeanne:

That was the number one takeaway I took after Quade conference. Another takeaway was just that inflection point. I say here the inflection point is felt by all. I sort of described what I meant by that, but it was just a really palpable energy. Another one I wrote is CAAs become fast friends.

Mary Jeanne:

I thought this was just kind of cool and interesting. I actually have experienced this before Brace yourself in my sorority community. I actually am a diehard Kappa, alpha, theta alumni member and I'm really into my sorority, like the establishment of my sorority and the connection that I share with generations of women, and I can really into my sorority, like the establishment of my sorority and the connection that I share with generations of women, and I can go to my Kansas City alumni group and just feel this bond between all these women I've never met before because we have just a similar history through the sorority membership, very, very similar energy to a CAA. I just feel this connection, a deep connection to those who are in this community and that allows us to sort of bridge some awkwardness and just kind of move quickly into deep conversation and easy friendship. And that was super evident at the Quad A when I was meeting all these people I'd never met before and having really awesome conversations that you will hear in just a little while.

Mary Jeanne:

Okay, let me pull out a little bit more of a spicy one. Okay, here this is not so spicy, but this is kind of interesting. So many CAAs are extroverts who need to recharge by hiding in their hotel room for a couple of hours. I cannot tell you how many people I'd be in this like great conversation with and then they disappear and they wouldn't have been at the next lecture. And then I see them again. They're like oh my gosh, I just it's been too much Like. I just I'm so overwhelmed by all this energy because, as I've said several times now, is a very electrified experience, a very magnetic, energetic experience, and that was a lot. It was a lot for me. I had to take several breaks to just be quiet in my room and apparently I was not alone. That was a very interesting conversation I had with several people over the course of the weekend. Let me share maybe one or two more. Let me flip a page here.

Mary Jeanne:

Okay, so here's an interesting one when I met my past guest on this podcast so many of these podcast guests I have never met in real life until two weekends ago at the Quad A and it was so interesting that when I met my guests in person, not only did we have this like instant connection, but it also lasted like it wasn't just a oh hey. Oh my gosh, happy to see you. I felt like we had a friendship built that actually sustained over the course of the weekend and it was just really cool to feel like a deep connection with these people that I think I had naturally picked people I was drawn to to interview and then when I met them in real life I was like, oh, I can see why I was drawn to you. Like, you have a type of energy that usually draws me in and interests me, and so meeting these people in real life was just a confirmation that like, yep, you're my people. So it was really cool. Everyone I met Jen, lindsay, the other Jen, just so many people were there and it was just really exciting to get to see everyone face to face and just to talk and give you a hug and yeah, so, thank you so much for being on the podcast.

Mary Jeanne:

If you've been a past guest of Awakened Anestis, okay, let's do one more. That maybe is a teeny bit spicy, but there was a real sense that CAAs want to talk more openly about the hard parts of our profession. Definitely, some people came up to me and were like, hey, you should do an episode on this or that, or you know, they wanted to bring attention to some of the struggles within our profession, be them legislative or friction actually at work, like on-the-job friction with other anesthesiologists or CRNAs and there's not a really great way to share a conversation with CAAs on some of these harder topics unless you're doing them one-on-one with people you know like in your real life. And so it was really interesting. I got that comment or people came up to me several times with these things. They're like, hey, you should do an episode on this, and so I got a lot of great ideas and just overall, I was really impacted that CAAs want more opportunity to talk to each other and I'm just really interested in facilitating more conversations. And so when I come back fall of 2024, I am excited to find different ways for us to connect and find more meaningful ways for us to be in conversation with each other, even if it's virtually.

Mary Jeanne:

And yeah, I just I don't want to say too much. As I've already said, I'm excited, I have some big plans too much. As I've already said, I'm excited, I have some big plans, but you know not yet. I'm going to kind of get quiet, slow down, pull inward and just make sure that my next steps are really intentional, so I hope you enjoyed these quad a 2024 takeaways. There's so many more in the newsletter if you want to sign up and get those and let's transition to the live little impromptu interviews I did at the Quad A. I hope you enjoy these. You've got a few months to catch up on any past episodes that you've missed. Or if you want to follow me on Instagram and sort of stay up to a little bit more of the behind the scenes of my journey over the summer and relaunching the podcast this fall, yeah, just find a way to stay connected, listen to the podcast or just go out this summer, disconnect from it all and enjoy your life, like I will be, and we'll meet back here in the fall. Thank you so much for being here for season three. I know we've got so many more things to talk about and I can't wait to talk soon. Hello, hello, welcome to Awakened Anestis Podcast.

Mary Jeanne:

I'm about to walk downstairs and see who I can run into of my CAA community. I know there's prospective AAs here. There's first year, second year CAAs, or I guess they're AA students, and then there's a ton of practicing CAAs. I was told by the Quad A planning committee that there are over 1,100 people signed up for this conference and just to keep that in perspective, there's only 3,700 CAAs ever. That includes those that have been retired or no longer working. And so to have 1,100 of us including some exhibitors who, yes, I guess aren't CAAs but for 1,100 people to be registered for this Quad A Conference 2024 is just a real testament to the growth of our profession and how important CAAs feel like community is and showing up for this once-a-year event, this really unprecedented opportunity to talk to people who are walking the same journey as you. I just it's so important, and so I'm excited to walk downstairs and out of my hotel room, which is very nice I'm overlooking some sort of body of water of some sort here in Orlando, florida.

Mary Jeanne:

It is April 13th and we are about to go on a lunch break, so let me try to catch some people as they walk out of the main meeting and just, I've got questions that I want to ask, depending on who I run into, and so we'll just go on a little journey together, we'll see who we run into and then, yeah, we'll see what comes out of all this. All right, let's go. All right, I'm live at the Quad A 2024, and I'm here with Jasmine Hinkle, student at Emory University. Awesome, and Jasmine, what year in school are you? Second year, okay, my second year question is what advice would you give to the first years about to become second years?

Speaker 2:

who are entering their clinical phase. It is okay if you don't get intubations right away or if your preceptor has to step in and take over. It's definitely about patient safety, so don't feel bad at all if you can't get something right.

Mary Jeanne:

Great advice. Anyone else at Jasmine's Table want to offer? Are you all second years? Awesome, give me your name. Sam Lee, student at Emory as well. Awesome, sam Lee, and what advice would you give to those first-year students who are transitioning into their second clinical year?

Speaker 3:

I think at every rotation basically have one goal set in mind that you want to accomplish by the end of that rotation. I know going into clinicals you want to accomplish everything from induction, intubation and an emergence. But I think it's very helpful to have one goal at a time and really strive to meet that goal.

Mary Jeanne:

And what was your first goal? Do you remember going into second year Like what?

Speaker 3:

were you wanting to achieve? My first goal was pretty much workflow, kind of get the flow down and intubations when I could.

Mary Jeanne:

Thank you, Sam Lee, Anyone else All right introduce yourself.

Speaker 5:

Hi, I'm Courtney Lowe. I'm also a student with Emory Hi.

Mary Jeanne:

Courtney, and is this your first quad A?

Speaker 4:

This is my first quad A yes, and what advice would?

Mary Jeanne:

you give to those first years going into their clinical second year.

Speaker 5:

Going into clinical as a second year is definitely a little scary. They tell you you're going to have bigger shoes to fill, a lot more responsibilities, expectations. But as you're transitioning to new hospitals all the time, it's hard to know where you're at, what you're doing. But always remember you're still in the OR and you know what to do. In the OR you have the anesthesia machine, still a patient you can take care of. So just try to ground yourself, try to focus on what you know that you can do. Thank you so much.

Mary Jeanne:

Okay, I just ran into two human being practicing CAAs. So my question for the practicing CAA is how many hours do you work and how much money you make? Because I think it's really interesting to hear like that big number but like what goes into that. So, as much as you want to share Jen at Anastasia OneSource, how much money do you make and how many hours do you?

Speaker 6:

work I make, my base salary is $200,000. Well, I should correct that. So I have a base salary and then I have an additional stipend, so the stipend does not go into consideration when I'm working time and a half. So I have my base salary, that when I go into overtime I get time and a half of my base salary and then my stipend is just my stipend, but it is accounted in every paycheck. And so with my base salary and my stipend I get $200,000 a year and I work usually right at 40 hours a week and maybe 42.

Mary Jeanne:

Thank you, Thank you for the transparency, All right. Next we have Chebelly, who you've been out for two years.

Speaker 7:

Well, I've been out for over two years, coming on three years.

Mary Jeanne:

And Jen, just real quick how many years have you been out? Almost two, okay, all right. So Chabeli, same question how much money do you make and how many hours do you work?

Speaker 7:

So in 2023, I made over $250,000 and my hours were fluctuating a lot from like. Sometimes I would get out early, so I would make. I would work 38 hours, and then some weeks I think I worked around 60 hours or more. There were a few. There was one week where I actually worked a call shift that went from maybe 7am until 11pm that day, and then I also worked during the hurricane, so I got paid extra for hurricane pain. So everything factored together, I think it was over 20 hours that week. But it worked out because the hurricane made a special pay and counted as overtime hours, even though technically it wasn't overtime. So, yes, that week that was probably my heaviest week I've ever worked. So that's how much I made in 2023. I'm currently a contractor and my rate is about, I'll say, from 180 to 200 an hour, and then I also get paid a stipend that is over a thousand dollars a week.

Mary Jeanne:

So that's my stipend for housing and food and whatnot, as a contract worker yes, so stipend for um.

Speaker 7:

I was previously also getting a stipend for airfare as well, so food and airfare and housing as well.

Mary Jeanne:

Thank you ladies, thank you Chepele, thank you Jen. Ok, so I just ran into my first prospective AA at Quad A 2024. And let me have you introduce yourself. I am.

Speaker 8:

Victoria Bain.

Mary Jeanne:

And Victoria. How did you get on the volunteer service committee or how are you here, victoria? Tell everyone.

Speaker 8:

Well being. Very candid, I emailed. I got the information from the Facebook anesthesiology anesthesiologist assistant page and I emailed a young lady who was a student at the time. She may have graduated. This was in 2021. Emailed her at the time. She may have graduated. This was in 2021. Emailed her at the time. I was actually pregnant and I told her I was interested in volunteering and she told me that she wasn't taking students at the time Well, people who weren't in the program at the time and so she reached out to me like six months later and said she needed help and I said you'll take me.

Mary Jeanne:

She said yeah, and that's how I started and what was the role Like? What did you come to the Quade to do initially?

Speaker 8:

I came into the Quade initially to do registration at the registration desk, assisting people in the workshops. So that's basically what I did and greeting, meeting, greeting and putting together packets and lanyards and showing them directions where to go once they get to the conference.

Mary Jeanne:

I just I love the tenacity, Like I love that you are making this happen for yourself and tell everyone when you plan on applying to AA school. I plan on.

Speaker 8:

I plan on applying later this year. This is 2024. I plan on applying later this year, this fall. And what's your dream school? If you have one? My dream school and I've talked to Professor Mastropolo today is Nova Jacks.

Mary Jeanne:

All right. Well, we all have our fingers crossed for you. It sounds like you are a great fit for our profession.

Speaker 8:

So much, and it's very nice to meet you. I watch you all the time, I stalk your Instagram and you are very inspirational. Keep doing what you're doing and I'm so happy and proud of you as well.

Mary Jeanne:

Thank you, victoria. I just ran into another practicing CAA. Are you willing? I would love to talk about money. I love money transparency. I think it's really important for our community because so many people, I think, get roped into the money. Are you willing to talk about money? Yeah, okay, let me have you introduce yourself. So I just ran into a practicing CAA who actually I just met here at the Quad A 2284. Tell us your name, claire Campbell, and where do you practice statewide. You probably don't have to tell us the hospital you work at what state. I work in Georgia, okay, and then I would just love to hear sort of your numbers, like your salary and how many hours it takes to work to get to that number.

Speaker 10:

So I have over a decade of experience and I have seen this profession grow over the course of my time being an AA and certainly our salaries have increased dramatically throughout my career. So I just I'm very grateful, I feel very blessed. Currently I work part-time and I'm making, I think, total, including benefits and whatnot, it comes out to be like $190,000 a year.

Mary Jeanne:

And what does part-time look like? Can you break down the hours worked?

Speaker 10:

I am 24 hours right now and I have my own benefits separately, so I do some part-time work as a 1099, which gives me some flexibility, but also so that 24 hours can look like three, eights or two twelves, and then I pick up shifts in between either my current location or at other locations around town.

Mary Jeanne:

So it sounds like you are working maybe three days a week, kind of dispersed. Two to three days a week. Yeah, awesome. Thank you so much, claire, appreciate you. Thank you Slowly if you don't want to be next. I really ran into some first year AA students and so let me have him introduce himself.

Speaker 11:

What's up? My name is Kevin. I'm a first year AA student at Nova Jacks.

Mary Jeanne:

Thank you for saying yes, Kevin. The people would love to know how you found out about the AA program as a prospective student.

Speaker 11:

It was actually pretty interesting. I first applied to medical school and so at first, you know, people were telling me, oh, maybe. First, you know, people were telling me, oh, maybe, you know, try to pick a backup option or something like that. And I was like, backup, hell, no. So I was like you know, definitely not. But then I started looking. I'm like pa, not really it's not an option or that's not like a route that I wanted to go in. And my significant other at the time actually told me about it because she was researching it and she just found it online. And then I kind of looked at websites like I'd never heard of it before because I was in Michigan and there's not a lot of AAs up there, so I never heard of the program or anything about it. So then I did a little research online on my own. I was like you know, it seems like a pretty great option, actually like way better than the other options that I was looking at. So and then I kind of pursued it and that's that.

Mary Jeanne:

And you applied one year one time and got in.

Speaker 11:

Yeah, I applied one year. One time I just went down the line, applied to pretty much every AA school and then I got some interviews back and then I got accepted to two programs and then eventually landed on Nova Jacks.

Mary Jeanne:

Awesome, do you mind? Actually, I wasn't going to ask anyone this, but now I am. What was your credentials? What was your GPA? What were your numbers on the tests and the things Right.

Speaker 11:

So my GPA was a 3.82. I took the MCAT so you could. You could take the gre or mcat. My mcat was a 513. I believe it was 512 or 513. I'm sorry I can't remember. Off the top of my head, right, but uh, and I was. I worked as a part-time emt for a year to kind of get my clinical background in um I think that's good.

Mary Jeanne:

I think just interesting to hear some stats behind people who have gotten in and gotten in the first time, because it sounds like that may be becoming more rare where.

Speaker 11:

Yeah, it's. It's crazy how much this program like, or this profession, has like boosted this past year Even like there's so many people who are trying to get in, who know about it, and even our program said they got, I think they this past year, even like there's so many people who are trying to get in, who know about it, and even our program said they got, I think they quadrupled their application numbers just this year and it's wow.

Mary Jeanne:

Well, thank you for talking to me, Kevin, and best of luck to you on your journey.

Speaker 11:

Awesome, thank you.

Mary Jeanne:

Okay, ran into a little cluster of practicing CAAs, so let me have you introduce yourself.

Speaker 4:

I'm Maggie. I'm a CAA at Children's Nursing in Kansas City. Oh, Maggie.

Mary Jeanne:

Well, hello, I'm a CAA in Kansas City as well. I'm really interested in financial transparency for our profession. I know that number brings in a lot of interest, so I would love to hear how much you make kind of base as much as you want to tell us, and then what it takes to get that number in terms of hours and days worked base as much as you want to tell us and then what it takes to get that number.

Speaker 4:

In terms of hours and days worked, I currently make like around $92 an hour. I work 40 hours a week on full time but there's plenty of opportunity for extra shifts. You can make increased values on top of that, but I strictly work 40 hour weeks. We take call just on weekends, like once quarterly. So not a lot of extra call shifts required to get that salary. Yeah, five days like five eights, did you say? I work four tens, mostly Four tens. Okay, and the day off is rotating or it's set. Yeah, it rotates each week. You can kind of preference, but I don't have a current preference at this time, so I kind of work when they tell me Awesome, thank you so much for saying yes, anyone else?

Speaker 12:

Awesome, Introduce yourself. Hi. My name is Abby. I'm a practicing CAA in Jacksonville, Florida.

Mary Jeanne:

Thank you, Abby. And how much do you make and how many hours a week do you have to work to make that?

Speaker 12:

money. So my base salary is $191,625, and that's for a 40-hour work week but I work 313s so I do the 39 hours. I usually make an additional roughly $1,000 a week doing one backup call overnight and then one PRN day for about five or six hours and for the perspectives or the AA students tell us what a backup call looks and feels like for you.

Speaker 12:

So backup call for us ends 15 minutes after your original shift and then, if there's another OR that needs to go on, you'll stay and at that point you start making your. We call it like a block pay, otherwise you get to go home and you just keep your phone on you and they'll call you back if you need you. We only have about a 30% callback rate.

Mary Jeanne:

Thank you, abby, one other taker, anyone?

Speaker 2:

Introduce yourself for us. My name's Sarah. I am an AA down in Orlando Florida.

Mary Jeanne:

Right where the Quade Conference is this year. So you had a little drive, a short drive, wonderful About 30 minutes.

Speaker 2:

My base salary is about $177. I make roughly $87 an hour, and I make that with four tens. Each week we have an opportunity to do what we call work on day off shifts, or WOTO shifts, and that is paid at $175 an hour. So there's easy opportunity, especially working four tens, to come in on my fifth day and make a good bit of extra money. And how many years out of school are you, sarah? I graduated in September of last year, so less than a year.

Mary Jeanne:

Is there opportunity to make more as you get more experience at your hospital? Yes, there is Awesome. Thank you guys so much Appreciate you. Okay, I'm at the Quad A 2024 and sort of between sessions here I had someone who I connected with just so briefly walk up to me and remember our interaction, so I wanted to get their perspective. So why don't you introduce?

Speaker 13:

yourself and this is my first time at Quad A. It's been a blast so far. We're on day two and I just ran into Mary Jean Roberts and I love the podcast. I watched every episode. She had a very special lecture on the first day. That was amazing and I'm just having a good time. That was really kind.

Speaker 13:

Wadi, I have a question for you about how you found out about the program. I'm asking all of the first year students here I just think it's really schools realized it was going to take a while to get a lot of hours to apply to that. So then I was looking at pathologist assistant schools and realized I didn't really want to be grossing for the majority of my days, so was still on online forums and it happened to be mentioned in a forum from like 2010 about CAAs, and the more I learned about it, the more I realized it's the perfect career. It's, you know, very mentally stimulating, a lot of technical procedures and you're interacting with patients. So it just seemed like the perfect career and the more I learned about it, the more I felt like it was too good to be true. But I also realized it was something that was very attainable with the path that I was already on.

Speaker 13:

So once I knew that, I tried to get all of my application stuff ready. I did have a problem getting shadowing hours because I graduated during COVID 2020, 2021. So it took me about two years to get the shadowing that I needed to apply. So during that time I worked in a lab. My undergraduate was in microbiology, so I worked in a gene therapy lab for virology. So it was still a good time and I got my hours, I applied and now I'm here, so I'm here Did you get in the first application round.

Mary Jeanne:

Like first time you applied, you got in.

Speaker 13:

Yes. So I actually applied really late. The latest that some schools would let you around January 15. And I'm very grateful that I had several interviews. But after I had a, you know, a really nice interview with South at Savannah, my decision was made. I canceled the other ones and I was very grateful to be here. You know, very lucky, you know, because especially with the rising awareness of the profession, applications literally picked up right after that cycle. So I know how difficult it is now even just to get shadowing. I imagine it's even harder. I've had some people at the lab I used to work out reach out to me asking for how to get some shadowing or what resources you can use, and I always recommend the. Discord is a good place to start because there's always people active there and any questions, you know all the program directors are usually available and they respond whenever they can. You know, I see firsthand. You know Chris Tindall at South University in Savannah does a really good job about that. You know, helping people get on the right track.

Mary Jeanne:

Do you mind if you feel comfortable sharing, like your GPA and maybe what you got? Did you take the MCATs? I assume?

Speaker 13:

The GRE. My GPA was a 3.89 and my GRE was a 309, I believe.

Mary Jeanne:

I don't know GRE scores, but I can't verify.

Speaker 13:

It was kind of middle ground for GRE a little higher than average in verbal but actually below average in math. But I think GPA kind of helped out with that regard.

Mary Jeanne:

Well, thank you so much for catching me and saying hi and it's glad to. I'm glad to meet you and I know your story is going to help other prospective AAs, so thank you.

Speaker 13:

Thank you so much, Mary. Have a good rest of your quad A.

Mary Jeanne:

Okay, we are at the end of quad A 2024, third day, and I just ran into another practicing CAA and let me have you introduce yourself. My name is Kimiko Etchko.

Speaker 9:

And how many years have you been out of school? I've been out of school for five years, Fort Lauderdale.

Mary Jeanne:

Nova and let us know, if you're willing, how much you make and then, kind of rough, how you make that money rough estimate of hours worked and what the structure is.

Speaker 9:

So this year I'm on track to make about $450,000. That's about for 40 weeks of work in the year and about 36 hours a week. And what do?

Mary Jeanne:

those 36 hours look like? Are you working 3-12s or broken up over more days?

Speaker 9:

3-12s and there is an option to pick up. Extra call and extra shifts on those off days Are you 1099?

Mary Jeanne:

Yes, 1099. So you do locums as a CAA? Yes, full-time locums Awesome. Thank you so much. Okay, it looks like the Ohio Component Society just let out and I just ran into their group and I found a first year AA student. So let me have him introduce himself. Aa student. So let me have him introduce himself.

Speaker 15:

My name is Jaden Seip. I am a first year at Case Cleveland currently and we just got out of our meeting. Everything went wonderful. Obviously we're very proud. I'm one of the original states for AA practice, so we are very proud of that. But I first found out about the program through a friend, a co-worker at my first job when I was 16 years old. So I found out from His name is Lance.

Speaker 15:

He's an AA at Ohio State right now and he was talking to me about the program. He was talking about these wonderful opportunities. He went to Case Houston, so still in the Case program, I would have loved if he went to Cleveland, but we love all of our colleagues and he talked to me about the program when he was going through the process himself and he got me into it. And I'd also like to shout out um, an emory grad, um as well, my, uh, my stepsister, she uh married an emory grad who's also an AA. And my family found out about the program through him and everything. So Hunter as well, hunter is an Emory grad and he talked to me a little bit about the program through my family and everything. He helped me understand what it meant to be an AA student what it meant to be in the program, and so those are the two people who helped me learn about the AA profession.

Mary Jeanne:

I think, besides myself, you're like the youngest person I helped me learn about about the, a profession I think, besides myself, you're like the youngest person I have met who knew about the program at their young, you know, like as young as that, as 16. I'm interested. I have more questions now. Did you explore any other professions since you found out about 16? Or were you like ca, caa, all the?

Speaker 15:

way I was covet is what really like finalized the decision for me. I I was, I was I've been AA for a long time. It was just whether or not I needed to get into the OR. I needed to really understand if it was something that would click for me, and so I did those shadowing hours and the shadowing hours are so important the shadowing hours are. They will really teach you about the profession and the day-to-day activities of it. And so I think, once I really got in after a long, I was excited immediately.

Speaker 15:

Everyone, you have to have a passion for what you do, and so as soon as I heard about it, it was something that clicked for me, where I was like this could be it. It's a lot to choose one career for your entire, and this is what I'm going to do for 40 hours a week, every week. I've been a student 40 hours a week for years and years, and now I have to find something else that I'm going to settle on. And so for me, when I really got into the OR and I settled on that, it's that magical click that you get where you're like yeah, this is it, and it's really exciting.

Mary Jeanne:

Awesome. Well, best of luck to your second year and to your future career.

Speaker 15:

Thank you, I appreciate your time and thank you for everything you do. I've been wanting to speak with you about your podcast and I listened to your podcast as well and it was very early on and a lot of the things you joke about like being in your closet and recording from your closet. So it's been amazing and thank you very much for your time.

Mary Jeanne:

You're so welcome. Okay, just ran into a second year student. Let me have them introduce themselves. Hi, my name is Jenna. I'm a second year student at Case Cleveland and second year students, I've been asking what advice you would give first year students who are currently transitioning into their second year, particularly at Case. I know you guys transition in the summer. What advice would you give them to really tackle the new hurdles going into their clinical year?

Speaker 16:

So I will say, when you go into your second year and you're really focusing on clinical work, you have to make sure that you have put the work in before you get there.

Speaker 16:

So if you're still in your first year, make sure that you are working really hard at your didactics, make sure that you are just a sponge and absorbing all the information that your instructors are giving to you.

Speaker 16:

And then when you get to the second year I don't I'm not familiar with how other programs do it, but at Case Cleveland we usually have the year broken up into specialties. So you'll spend a month, for instance, in cardiac, a month in neuro, so on and so forth. So I would really recommend that the month leading up to whatever specialty you're going to be doing, you take a lot of time to make sure that you are preparing for that specialty. So make sure that you're going through the information that you received in your didactic courses, go through Reed Morgan and McHale, the textbooks that you can find, and just really make sure that you're prepared. So once you're in the OR you're not wondering about the book knowledge that you were supposed to absorb before that. You already have that knowledge and you're working on the hands-on skills and just incorporating all that knowledge, making sure that it comes together and you can understand that specialty.

Mary Jeanne:

Thank you so much. Jenna, Do you have a job? Are you about to graduate? Yes, I do so.

Speaker 16:

I am graduating in May and I accepted a job with the Cleveland Clinic.

Mary Jeanne:

Amazing Congratulations and thank you for saying yes to this Great job. Okay, jenna thought of one more value add, so let's hear Jenna.

Speaker 16:

I do want to say so, as you're going into clinical, especially as a second year, and you are working with all these different people day in and day out. You are going to be meeting a lot of different personalities and a lot of different anesthetists who have different ways of doing things. I do encourage you, since you are still a student, you are still a learner listen to what they have to say. I'm sure at this point in the program you do have preferences of how you like to do certain things, how you like to run your anesthetic, but since you are paying for the experience to be there, so I would say, just look at your second year as grocery shopping. You are going through the grocery store, try all of the samples, see what there is out there. So you have different opportunities, like different things that you can fall back on if your preferred method isn't working for whatever reason. So try all the samples and then, once you're graduating, once you're at that checkout line, then you choose what you want to take with you.

Mary Jeanne:

So valuable. Thank you so much, jenna. Okay, looks like Georgia State Component Society might have just left out, so I have a somewhat willing victim. Why don't you introduce yourself?

Speaker 17:

Hello, my name is Justin McNair. I'm a student at Emory University.

Mary Jeanne:

And what year are you?

Speaker 17:

I am a, I guess, a first year graduating 2025 in December.

Mary Jeanne:

I've been asking for sure how they found out about the profession, but I don't know. Justin, I just kind of want to ask you if you're willing to give us the details on, like the stats you had going in. What was your GPA? What was your GRE? Did you take the MCAT? Expand us all in what your application process was like.

Speaker 17:

It has been honestly so long since the application process that a lot of the numbers kind of are faded from my memory. But I do remember, like how I heard about the profession.

Mary Jeanne:

Tell us more about that.

Speaker 17:

Okay, so my previous profession was actually as a respiratory therapist. So I started around the beginning of the COVID-19 epidemic, sort of like being thrown in with the sharks, just a little bit. But I was able to get a lot of experience, a lot of learning and at the time probably around two years ends when a lot of the operating rooms they were sort of closed down, so a lot of the anesthetists that worked in the operating room they came to help me in the ICU. It was quite an experience to just see a different perspective of somebody who also, like handles, ventilators, can handle patient care. And you know, we talked, we had great conversations and they basically just said, hey, have you ever thought of possibly, you know, applying? And one thing led to another. And here I am.

Mary Jeanne:

Did you apply once and get in your first chance?

Speaker 17:

No, I applied twice and I was really late on the application process just because of work the first time. So I actually did get an interview, but it was a last minute interview, like, I believe, probably an open spot had just opened up. So I went out, I had the interview and they just didn't end up accepting the first time. But then the second time I had many interviews and many acceptances, so I was very blessed first time. But then the second time I had many interviews and many acceptances, so I was very blessed that time.

Mary Jeanne:

Amazing. I just think it's so valuable to hear, if you don't get in the first time, that it doesn't mean all hope is lost.

Speaker 17:

Absolutely. It's honestly. It's a lot of perseverance and it's a lot of sometimes you don't succeed. You have to just keep going. It's not the end of the world.

Mary Jeanne:

And it's not because you can't be a CAA, you know. It's just because sometimes you weren't ready for whatever reason, or the program wasn't. You know, the logistics didn't match up. So thank you so much for sharing that. Thank you so much.

Speaker 18:

Okay, I ran into one of my UMKC former students, so let me have them introduce themselves. Hi, my name is Catherine Marcus. I'm a second year at UMKC and I'm currently in my rotation at Albuquerque, new Mexico Amazing.

Mary Jeanne:

And UMKC's schedule runs a little different, so our classes start in January. So I have a curiosity to ask you what advice you would give first years who are going to enter here in a little while their clinical phase, and what advice you have as six months into your clinical phase for them to really get through some fear and like keep persevering.

Speaker 18:

I think my biggest thing is like take opportunities to travel if you can, because I've had some really great experiences outside of Kansas City and I also had great experiences in Kansas City, but it's so nice to see the different cultures and different places and how everything handles that.

Speaker 18:

And then my biggest thing is is like, whenever you feel alone, always have one of those classmates that you can just like dump to at the end of the day. One of my classmates and I have sent each other audio messages every day like listen to all of these crazy things that happen, just so you have that like point of contact. Even though you have people in clinicals, it's not the same because you're in class with these people every day and then all of a sudden it's like I have no one anymore and so just like, have that point of contact of somebody that you can talk to and work through things and like you know you're not alone, because second year can be very lonely and having that one person of those two people that you know you can go back and talk to at the end of every day has really gotten me through the first four months.

Mary Jeanne:

So amazing advice. Thank you so much, Catherine.

Speaker 18:

Thank you very much.

Speaker 14:

Y'all need to.

Mary Jeanne:

All right, I just ran into a little group backing away slowly of VCOM students. So or VCOM, how do we VCOM? Thank you. Ok, let me have you introduce yourself.

Speaker 14:

I'm Pierce Sanders. I'm from Beaufort, Georgia. I went to UGA for undergrad.

Mary Jeanne:

And you are a first year VCOM.

Speaker 14:

First year VCOM.

Mary Jeanne:

Awesome and this is their first class, so you guys are inaugural. That's amazing, first year student. I am wondering how you found out about the AA profession.

Speaker 14:

I was pre-PA, most of college and I was hanging out with one of my friends before our anatomy lab and she showed up like super dressed up one day. So I was like, oh, where are you coming from? And she's like I had an AA interview. I'm like, oh, what's that? Then she explained it to me and I told some other friends and they gave me some like connections to shadow and after my first time shadowing I was I was like, oh yeah, this is what I want to do.

Mary Jeanne:

Very interesting because you're the first person I've met today that was thinking PA and then went AA. What really about? The AA? Profession stood out for you over what you thought being a PA would be.

Speaker 14:

I only shadowed neurosurgery for when I was PA and I only did clinic, but I got like immediate shadowing, an immediate shadowing opportunity for AA, so I was getting that OR exposure. Immediately I was like, oh, this is like definitely like what I want to do. I thought it was really cool.

Mary Jeanne:

Thank you so much, pierce, great job. Okay, I ran into a practicing CAA, cam. Let me have Cam tell you what state he works in.

Speaker 19:

I work in Florida.

Mary Jeanne:

How long have you been out practicing as a CAA?

Speaker 19:

Two years.

Mary Jeanne:

Okay, what school did you go to?

Speaker 19:

Nova Southeastern University in Tampa Bay.

Mary Jeanne:

Awesome. So practicing CAAs I've been asking them if willing to share how much they make and sort of what the structure of their work looks like to make that money, Because I think sometimes people can get really drawn into the money and don't quite see that there's a lot of work behind that as well. So whatever you're willing to share All right.

Speaker 19:

So if I work 40 hours a week, I'm going to walk away with about $185,000. They make it really easy to get a lot more than that if I'm willing to put in the work. Last year I got $275, which was nice. First year out of school I put in a lot of extra hours. I probably worked on average 48 to 52 hours a week. I worked during vacations. They gave me my 40 hours of pay and then I got close to double time for any hours I worked during that vacation. So it was a sacrifice. I could have been spending time with my family. Instead, I was making between 10 and 15 grand in a week. That helped me take care of a lot of bills and a lot of stresses and set me up for a really good place moving forward.

Mary Jeanne:

What are your financial goals? Are you trying to pay off something or you're just like, hey, the first couple of years I'm going to hit it really hard.

Speaker 19:

I'm trying to get ahead looking at retirement because I love my job, I love what I do. I don't want to do it forever, so I want to look forward to the time that I'm going to spend after my career and just enjoy life and do it as early as possible.

Mary Jeanne:

Awesome. Thank you so much, Cam.

Speaker 19:

It's my pleasure.

Mary Jeanne:

Yeah, yeah, whatever you're comfortable I'll ask. I just think it's interesting to hear. You know the prospective students who are listening. You know to be like, oh, here's someone who's in a program and you know, just they have all these questions, so awesome. I just ran into a little bunch of first year South Savannah campus students and we're going to meet two people here. Let me know your name. My name is Nicole Jeffries and Megan Doherty, and they're both first year students at South Savannah. Let me ask Megan first what were your stats getting into AA school? What was the application process like for you?

Speaker 20:

Yeah, so my GPA in undergrad was a 3.9. I don't remember what my science GPA was, but I know that that's involved as well. I ended up taking the MCAT and scored a 5.04. And then, other than that, it was just getting through the interview process and I I only applied once and I only applied at South and Savannah because I lived in Savannah, so I really wanted to go to that program.

Mary Jeanne:

Wow, you put all your eggs in one basket, literally. Yeah, I definitely did I.

Speaker 20:

it worked out for me, but, um, just kind of took a shot in the dark.

Mary Jeanne:

but Well, congratulations. Sounds like you were. You know you were meant to be. Okay, let me ask Nicole how you found out about the AA profession?

Speaker 21:

Well, honestly, I thought that I was looking up PA programs, like so many of the students that are in my class. A lot of us were like pre-med or pre-PA because we just didn't really know what else to do. We were pre-med or pre-PA because we just didn't really know what else to do. We were pre-med and undergrad. So I really I thought I was looking up Emory's PA program.

Speaker 21:

When I actually saw Megan Bussman, who's a CAA in West Palm Beach, I'm like, oh my gosh, I know her. I thought she was a nurse, anesthetist, and, sure enough, no, she was not. She was a CAA. And so I reached out to her she is my best friend's sister-in-law and she's like no, this is the best profession ever. She's like I was in your position. I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do, but you have a pre-med background, you don't have to go to med school, you don't need to go back to go get your bachelor's of science and nursing it's the greatest profession ever. And she's like you can come shadow me if you would like. I can answer all of your questions. And she was just wonderful and I fell in love with the profession I shadowed and it was just like a click and you guys are in first year.

Mary Jeanne:

for how, when did your program start?

Speaker 20:

Our program started in June of last year, so we've been in the program for about 10 months now.

Mary Jeanne:

Ok, give me some takeaways. How has first year gone? You're almost done with first year, yeah it's honestly been really great.

Speaker 21:

It's really hard, for sure, but now that we're not just learning like an undergrad, you're learning kind of everything and everything. You're having to learn all your like liberal arts and stuff. Now it's just anesthesia. It's things that we know we're passionate about. We learn all your like liberal arts and stuff. Now it's just anesthesia. It's things that we know, we're passionate about. We know that they're going to be applicable towards everything we do in everyday life. So it's even when things are really hard, it's like okay, I need to know this. This is going to be beneficial to my patient one day. This could be life or death, potentially Like and it's just, it's so interesting. Anesthesia has so much to it and it's it's just so cool. We nerd out in class every day and we're all just so excited about the material, which is kind of nerdy and sciencey, but that's okay, that's amazing.

Mary Jeanne:

It's okay to embrace a little bit of nerd, of nap nerd. That's okay. Got that all in us. How about you, megan? I forget the question. I'm sorry, you're good. What has first year been like for you?

Speaker 20:

So first year has definitely been tough, like Nicole said, but it's also been really great For me. I didn't have a ton of clinical experience before I started the program and at South End Savannah they kind of get you exposed to what it's like to be in the OR every day really early on, and so it was kind of challenging for me at first to kind of acclimate to working in the OR, but you really see like an exponential growth in your learning when that happens. So I definitely have experienced a lot of challenges to overcome, but I have also grown so much and I'm so proud of myself and my classmates. We're definitely each other's support system as it gets tougher and tougher. But yeah, like she said, we're always making little anesthesia jokes as we learn something new. So it's been it's been really fun. We go to a really supportive program, so it's been great, awesome.

Mary Jeanne:

Thank you guys. So much, megan and Nicole, best of luck.

Speaker 20:

Thank you so much. We're looking forward to listening to the episode.

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Mary Jeanne Roberts, CAA

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