 VD. Everybody has it. Nobody admits it. Vein Drama: noun. [Veh-een- drah-muh] Any situation or series of events having vivid, traumatic, emotional, conflicting or striking circumstances that may prevent a timely procurement of a greater Saphenous vein. Surgeon: Is the vein ready yet? First Assistant: Not yet. I got some serious vein drama down here. Add Comment Hello fellow CT surgery PA friends! It has been a little bit since I've posted anything, so first I'd like to wish everybody a happy new year! May this year be low in call and vein drama!  Well there's been a lot going on on my front. Work is getting busier, I'm studying for my PANRE..But the most exciting thing that has happened is that my blog post on Compassion Fatigue got the attention of the powers that be at the APACVS (Association of PAs in Cardiovascular Surgery) and they asked me to write an editorial on the topic. I got a sweet 2 page editorial in the latest version of their Cardiovision Magazine Woohooo!! Check it out here! Let m know what you think of the article! Are the any topics you would like to see a blog post about? What are you frustrated about? Just want to chat? Email me! Karen@heartsurgerypa.com Join the Heart Surgery PA community Yo! For daily CT surgery news, pics jokes and shenanigans Like us on Facebook Here! Want to know what I'm doin? Follow me on Twitter! @heartsurgerypa Got any non-Hippa violating pics of the CVPA life? I want to see them! Share on twitter or Instagram! Tag #heartsurgerypa #cvpaproblems on Twitter or Instagram to share!  Most of us in this specialty are no strangers to putting in some serious, long, caffeine soaked, sleep deprived hours. So why is it that as much as we run around like beheaded chickens, taking time off in a busy practice is still perceived as a sign of weakness? Early in my career I bought into that whole idea of “whoever can last the longest wins”, BS. I was the only girl and I had some things to prove (but to who, really?) I was that mad person making morning rounds at 4 am after finishing a thoracic aortic dissection because, hey, I’m already here, right?  SOOOOOO Wrong. Eventually you recover. Then you get killed again. And then you recover again A few years of that cycle and you might eventually end up in chronic stressville, or worst: actually physically ill-sville. Then comes the compassion fatigue...  Yes. It happened to me. It manifested as seemingly inexplicable bouts of anxiety and depression. Read more about my experience here. Simply put, compassion fatigue is chronic stress resulting from caregiving work. Things like putting in long hours at the hospital caring for our patients, constantly dealing with serious illnesses that are emotionally challenging can render a caregiver drained. Do you Have Compassion Fatigue? 1. Loss of passion for your job . 2. Difficulty concentrating 3. Mental and physical exhaustion 4. Apathy 5. Negativism 6. Lack of vision for the future Read more symptoms here Heres how I overcame compassion fatigue and how you can too: Take time off ( And TRAVEL, preferably!) If you are feel you are acutely suffering from compassion fatigue. Stop what you are doing and schedule yourself a vacation right now. I'm serious. Right Now! You deserve it, you work your ass off!. 2 consecutive weeks minimum! Stay home or go somewhere far and exotic, but disconnect completely from work. Do whatever you want, eat whatever you want and do yourself a favor and keep in touch with non-work related, positive people. This is where my frazzled self went. Work who mo fos?  The other side of the world: Thailand Take care of Your Body and Mind Once you get back to work, make a point of slowly forming some healthy habits. Eat better, ease yourself into an exercise routine you enjoy as to start to prepare your body to better combat the stressors that might arise. No extreme dieting or rigorous workout routines out of left field. You are less likely to make lasting changes that way. You don't need yet another bump in cortisol. Adopt some form of relaxation technique. If you are like me and find it impossible to meditate, try mindful breathing, going for a scenic walk or taking a bath. There are also some great free or low cost guided meditation apps on the iphone and andrioid market. All you have to do is put some headphones on and listen. Theres even some that will hypnotize you into relaxing! Here is a great one. I believe stress causes an inflammatory response in the body which can have system-wide repercussions. Check this article out Eating clean and exercising are great inflammatory fighters. Click here to learn about more easy ways to combat inflammation. Shorty after adopting some of these anti-inflammatory habits, I felt much, much better, and you will too. Get a Hobby Everyone needs a hobby outside of work. Hobbies can provide a creative outlet, broaden your social circle and uncover and nurture talents you didn't even know you had. More importantly: ITS NOT WORK! Don’t have a hobby? Ask yourself, what is something you really, really enjoyed doing as a child? What makes you come alive outside of work? Do more of that. Adopt a childlike enthusiasm for something. I took up yoga and resumed my piano lessons. I started writing again. I slowly became someone in addition to just Karen the PA who needs to be in 3 places at once all the time.  This is me after a piano recital. I was the only person playing over 15 years old. I don't care. I enjoyed it thoroughly. Put Your Own Mask On First There is a reason they teach you this sh*it on airplanes. You can't help anybody unless yo ass is alive!  Yes, even before your children! According to compassionfatigue.org, traumatologist Eric Gentry suggests that people who are attracted to caregiving commonly have a strong identification with the helpless, suffering or traumatized people or animals. He says it is not uncommon for such people who were taught at an early age to care for the needs of others before caring for themselves, So authentic, ongoing self care practices were never developed and are absent from their lives. Ain’t that the truth. Lets learn to say no. Let us develop a sense of self recognition of when we have given enough of ourselves. The belief that caring for others more than you care for yourself is noble is wrong. Its time we started being as kind and compassionate with ourselves as we are with our patients.  In the spirit of Halloween I thought I put together a few conduit harvesting horror stories that were submitted. These are the best ones. Get ready to almost cry and laugh uncontrollably. I certainly did. Enjoy! Muahahahahhaha!  After publishing my last post about the benefits of taking the Thoracic CAQ Exam, a few fellow PAs brought to my attention the potentially harmful effects the propagation this exam can have on our profession. The main concern is that our ability to change specialties with ease might be compromised. This is a valid concern. Taking into consideration a similar course seen with Nurse Practitioners, who because of the inception of specialization certification, are now required to specialize in a particular branch of medicine and have a more difficult time changing fields.  Up your game and OWN your specialty by passing the NCCPA’s Certificate of Added Qualifications exam. With certifications in 5 specialities, ehem, including ours of course, physician assistants now have the opportunity to have their specialized experience recognized by the world. Here are 5 reasons to take the CAQ in Thoracic Surgery:  Michael Clarke Duncan, the Academy Award nominated actor from the movie the Green Mile has passed away at 54 years of age, 7 weeks after sustaining a myocardial infarction. He was very talented, very young and a vegetarian. A vegetarian?! Hold up, I thought the plant based diet reversed heart disease! Ok, so he had only been a vegetarian for a few months, and the likelihood of reversing 54 years of coronary gunk in this short amount of time is very low, but his death brings to question (for the millionth time) What is the ultimate way of preventing heart disease? Now, I realize that vegetarians are certainly not immune to atherosclerotic heart disease, and that Mr. Clarke Duncan might have had other overpowering risk factors, but even today, with so many advances in the treatment of AHD, and millions of dollars poured into researching heart disease, AHD remains a mysterious and complex beast that is nowhere near being tamed.   Pneumonia When I first started seeing patients I admit I was a intimidated. I had been a PA in Adult Cardiovascular surgery since I first became a PA 5 years before. This was Kamakazi primary care in a mountain, a few hours from civilization.
|   AuthorCoffee fanatic and Nutella enthusiast, Karen Calcaño is a practicing Adult Cardiothoracic Surgery PA in South Florida. ArchivesMay 2013 What I write AboutAll |
