CANA Conference in Monterey

This past weekend Todd and I drove up to the CANA (California Association of Nurse Anesthetists) Fall Conference in Monterey. After a long day in the operating room on Thursday we took off for the Central California sea coast. We had to be at the business meeting bright and early Friday morning to witness the goings on partly for a school project and also to get the low down on what is really happening to our wonderful state of California in the anesthesia world.

The conference was not all business meetings and lecture. Todd and I were able to get out Saturday for lunch down at the wharf in Monterey Cannery row district for a sea side munch-out. We both were off of our tofu diets for the weekend. Besides, the wives were not here with us on the trip and we decided to let loose a little, not too much just a little. There is always next week to get back on the program of exercise and healthy living but this was a weekend to relax a bit. Both of us have been under a lot of strain from the demands of clinical rotations and needed a bit of a break.

During the conference we were able to hobnob with some of the great names in California history of nurse anesthesia but mostly we were there just to soak up the atmosphere. As seniors this year I think that both Todd and I have relaxed a bit and are enjoying these conferences a bit more than last year. The attendance in the Northern Californian meetings this fall seemed a bit down from last year but the tides on the shores on Monterey remind me that these things go in cycles anyway so not to worry. This coming spring should really be a big CANA conference some where nice. From what I have heard the next CANA conference is going to be in Palm Springs so we have that to look forward to.

One of the great things for me at the CANA conference is all of the vendors and the booths that are set up. The book seller was there with the new editions of Barash’s Clinical Anesthesia Fifth edition as well as the new Stoelting Pharmacology and Physiology in Anesthetic Practice. These are two of the must have books in my library. The new editions at first glance look like good investments especially the Barash text which has gone through extensive review. Keeping an up-to-date anesthesia library can be a daunting task but while I am a student I have determined to keep the most current texts available to me. Later on during clinical practice I will have to see which texts and books I upgrade with new editions but for now I am committed to this upgrade process. These texts are so new that Amazon does not have them listed but you can see the links to the older texts in my Anesthesia Library list.

To view all of the pictures that I saved from the trip - well not all of the pictures but some of them anyway - you can see the Slide Show at flickr.