Senior Radford nursing student extends herself to earn first publication

Crysta Guynn converted a summer experience into her first-ever publication.

In the Winter 2018 edition of The Torch, the newsletter of the Virginia Student Nursing Association, Guynn, a senior nursing student from Galax, published a piece titled, “The Nurse’s Role around the Anesthesia Experience and Post-Anesthesia Acute Delirium in the Geriatric Population.”  

The objective of her article was to share her experience and explore delirium in the geriatric population, which she described as “one of many common and often misunderstood postoperative complications following anesthesia.” According to Guynn, post-operative delirium requires prompt identification and treatment.

The detailed overview of the complex health issue resulted from a 50-hour voluntary shadowing experience Guynn did this summer with nurse anesthetist Michael Shanks at Galax’s Twin County Regional Hospital.

“The experience I gained working with the gerontologial population and in the surgical environment was so valuable,” Guynn said. “I really wasn’t sure how I would specialize, but I know now I want to become a nurse anesthetist.”

To do so, Guynn will work toward becoming an advanced practice nurse, or Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA), upon graduation this spring.  CRNA’s administer anesthesia and other medications. They also monitor patients who are receiving and later recovering from anesthesia. CRNAs acquire a master’s degree focusing on anesthesia, complete extensive clinical training and pass a certification exam.

As for being a writer, Guynn was pleased with the outcome. 

“I consider myself a math and science type, but the writing flowed because I was capturing a passion,” Guynn said.

As a member of Radford’s chapter of the Student Nursing Organization, Guynn found an additional way to benefit from the richness of Radford’s School of Nursing.

“I have been encouraged to do extra because the faculty and my fellow students have been supportive and enthusiastic,” Guynn said. “The relationships I am developing with the SON faculty have been so meaningful.”