#102 – Marriage + Anesthesia School with Brad & Madisson Marcum

Brad & Madisson Marcum join me to talk about the dynamics of being married and going to anesthesia school together. They met in nursing school, had divergent paths professionally for a bit, with Brad starting nurse practitioner school and Madisson considering anesthesia school. They ended up sharing the same goal of becoming CRNAs and we talk through their approach to applying together, getting into the University of Evansville together and working through the program alongside one another. In episode 15, I talked with Jenny & Robert Montague about what it’s like for the significant others of anesthesia residents. Jenny has her Master of Science in Nutrition and works as a Registered Dietitian and supported Robert and their 2 kids while he attended the University of New England’s anesthesia program. In epsisode 50, I caught up with Lein & Nate Woodin to talk specifically on parenting in anesthesia school. Nate is a family therapist and supported Lein and their 2 kids while she went through the University of New England’s anesthesia program. In this episode, Brad & Madisson Marcum talk about what it’s like to both get into and work through anesthesia school together. We’re planning for this to be the first in a series of conversations with them as they progress through their program. They’re just finishing their first year of training and have yet to start clinicals. I plan to touch base with them down to the road to see how that phase of the program goes. Folks are often making difficult decisions around when to do anesthesia school. For a couple in my program, the husband went through school 2 years ahead of his wife, who was in my class, and they overlapped for just one semester. A local couple here in Portland stacked their programs end to end with one of them fully completing the program and a semester after that, the other starting anesthesia school. That stretched their anesthesia training experience to a full six years as a couple. My hope is that this conversation with Brad & Madisson helps you and your partner think through the considerations around what you want to do or how it’s going for you if you’re currently in a program. Brad hails from Salem, Illinois and spent 5 years as a critical care Registered Nurse in the cardio thoracic & transplant ICUs at Mayo Clinic prior to starting anesthesia school in the University of Evansville’s DNAP program. His clinical interests are regional anesthesia and opioid sparring anesthetic techniques with an emphasis on pharmacology and pharmacogenetics. Madisson is from Effingham, Illinois and also spent 5 years as a critical care Registered Nurse in the trauma surgical ICU at Mayo Clinic in Rochester prior to anesthesia training. Her clinical interests are regional anesthesia and difficult airway management. They are focusing their doctoral project on the functionality and effectiveness of virtual reality training in anesthesia programs and plan to utilize Peter Stallo’s SIMVANA VR platform for research. You may remember my conversation with Peter in episode 96 on SIMVANA and virtual reality in anesthesia education. It’s a fascinating discussion on what will likely become a central element to anesthesia education in years to come. Long term, Brad & Madisson intend to become involved in medial mission trips and create a pediatric charity foundation to provide basic necessities to children in need in their local area following anesthesia school.