You can’t have a “Take Your Kids to Work Day” in an OR.
But Rebecca Aron, MD, associate vice chair of wellbeing in the UNMC Department of Anesthesiology, wanted to offer her department a similar, fun experience in a safe, controlled environment that would help family members improve their understanding of anesthesiology.
“Many family members don’t understand what anesthesiologists and CRNAs do, and I thought it would be neat if we could create a program to show our loved ones what it is that we do when we go to work,” Dr. Aron said. “It is such a range – from providing invasive monitors, to post-op pain relief, to managing difficult airways and performing perioperative transesophageal ultrasound.”
The department’s first-ever Family Day was held on Sep. 14 at the Davis Global Center. Using the state-of-the-art clinical simulation rooms of the iEXCEL program, the event was planned and executed by a team of the department’s physicians, nurse anesthetists and house officers and was geared toward both children and adults.
“I knew I couldn’t do it alone,” Dr. Aron said. “I had a tremendous response from volunteers and colleagues, who shared wonderful ideas that helped me to refine the details.”
The fun began with all attendees gathered for a welcome and introduction, followed by a rotation through several stations that ran simultaneously, providing different learning experiences tailored for children and adults. UNMC medical students were on hand to facilitate the rotations.
Family members visited multiple stations throughout the morning that introduced them to the wide range of services in anesthesiology, including providing invasive monitors, post-op pain relief, managing difficult airways and performing perioperative transesophageal ultrasound.
There was also a break room where children could design their own scrub caps, color or enjoy a snack in a quiet environment.
The volunteers at the various stations made an amazing experience even better, Dr. Aron said. For example, CRNA Melissa Smith served juice in “blood bags” at the IV station. Amanda Arnzen, MD, brought in a stereo to play “Baby Shark” – which has the perfect beat count for CPR and was a huge hit with the youngest participants. Several volunteers brought visual aids and teaching tools to make the experience more accessible to a lay audience.
“I think it was awesome to engage the youth and show them that STEM is exciting, bystander CPR is key, and everyone can contribute to saving a life,” Dr. Arnzen said. “10-out-of-10 Saturday morning volunteer experience — and my family and I would love to participate again!”
They aren’t the only ones.
“We’ve had a lot of people in the department ask when we’re going to run the program again, because they want to show their families what they do at work,” said Dr. Aron. “I’m excited to hold it again, and I think we can open it up to more people next time.”
Dr. Aron said one goal was to give the participants hands-on experience in order to gain an understanding of what anesthesiologists and CRNAs do at work.
“Our families could see what we do to help patients and why we sometimes have to miss important events or can’t make it home,” Dr. Aron said. “Another potential benefit is encouraging our kids to explore and appreciate STEM and maybe get them interested in health care or medicine.”
An internal goal was the teamwork and bonding aspect.
“We worked together to come up with the ideas,” she said. “And we got to meet each other’s families and see what and how each other were teaching as we rotated through.”
Mohanad Shukry, MD, PhD, interim chair of the department, said the event was a success. “The Davis Global Center is a unique and amazing facility, and I’m very proud of our team for taking advantage of it,” Dr. Shukry said. “Putting this event together not only strengthened the camaraderie among our colleagues, but it also gave families the opportunity to experience what their loved ones do at work and hopefully inspired them to follow in their footsteps.”
Event planners and volunteers included:
- Patrick Arnold, UNMC medical student
- Amanda Arnzen, MD (CPR)
- Mark Cheney, MD (venous access)
- Ann Donnelly-Haasch, CRNA (break room)
- Sheila Ellis, MD (difficult airway)
- Jeff Garvey, UNMC medical student
- Katie Goergen, MD (bronchoscopy)
- Nate Goergen, MD (bronchoscopy)
- Michael Hamilton, CRNA (airway)
- Allyson Hascall, MD (spinal/epidural)
- Rafael Arsky Lombardi, MD (regional)
- Dash Pierce, MD (manikin)
- Matt Pile, UNMC medical student
- Kris Rohde, CRNA (ultrasound)
- Sandra Rose, Anesthesia Services Respiratory Therapy Supervisor
- Sasha Shillcutt, MD
- Mohanad Shukry, MD, PhD
- Melissa Smith, CRNA (IV access)
- Lucy Yearian