Vanessa Rodriguez, CRNA, spent time in the hospital keeping her aunt company as she battled metastatic breast cancer – an experience that inspired her to pursue a career in nursing.
“When you have a family member who is sick, you just want to help,” Rodriguez said. “Witnessing the impact of compassionate and competent care was one of the reasons I wanted to become a nurse.”
Rodriguez learned more about becoming a nurse anesthetist through conversations with her friend and colleague, Kris Rhode when they both worked at OrthoNebraska. “Kris is a great advocate of the field,” she said. “When she explained the role and responsibilities to me, it seemed like something I really wanted to pursue.”
Her career at Nebraska Medicine started in 2020, after meeting the former chief of nurse anesthesia at UNMC Department of Anesthesiology, Tim Glidden, at a Nebraska Association of Nurse Anesthetists fundraiser.
Rodriguez said she hasn’t looked back and loves that she is making a difference in other people’s lives, providing compassionate care for her patients. She said class sizes are small and can be difficult to get into and she advises aspiring CRNAs to persevere and stay motivated if they are not accepted into a program right away.
When not working, Rodriguez’s greatest joy is playing with her six-month-old daughter and spending time outdoors as much as possible.