Your days at Good Shepherd will offer the clinical variety that drew you to anesthesia in the first place—the kind of diverse, engaging practice that prevents the monotony of doing the same procedures repeatedly for years. Picture this: Monday morning you're providing spinal anesthesia for an urgent C-section, by afternoon you're managing general anesthesia for a complex orthopedic reconstruction, and you finish the day placing an ultrasound-guided regional block for a shoulder surgery. Tuesday might find you in the endoscopy suite, then rotating to a main OR for ENT cases, perhaps getting called to the ED for a difficult airway. This isn't the assembly-line anesthesia of high-volume centers; this is comprehensive CRNA practice that challenges your skills, engages your clinical judgment, and reminds you why you chose this profession.
The team covers ten operating rooms daily, with five CRNAs working each day plus one dedicated float CRNA who handles regional blocks and flexes to the ED or labor and delivery as needed. This staffing model ensures balance—when the endoscopy suite fills with twenty procedures, the load is distributed evenly. Challenging assignments rotate systematically, ensuring fairness and avoiding burnout. It's a thoughtfully designed system demonstrating genuine commitment to provider wellbeing rather than extracting maximum productivity at the cost of exhaustion.
Your clinical scope spans the full range of surgical services essential to a thriving regional medical center. You'll provide anesthesia for general surgery, orthopedics, urology, obstetrics and gynecology, ENT, podiatry, endoscopy, and occasional ICU consults. Each specialty adds unique challenges and opportunities to refine your expertise.
This practice emphasizes advanced regional anesthesia and multimodal pain management over defaulting to general anesthesia for every case. You'll routinely perform neuraxial techniques—spinals and epidurals—for orthopedic, obstetric, and general surgeries. The team embraces ultrasound-guided peripheral nerve blocks, enhancing postoperative comfort and reducing opioid use. You'll place central lines, manage difficult airways, and utilize opioid-sparing approaches such as ketamine infusions aligned with current best practices.
The obstetric anesthesia component is particularly meaningful: providing labor epidurals and spinal anesthesia for C-sections, you'll help bring new life into the world while giving mothers access to care previous generations lacked. Pediatric dental cases have nearly disappeared, reflecting shifting procedural needs within the community.
The call schedule exemplifies true work-life balance. With nine CRNAs sharing call evenly, you'll take about 29 weekday evening calls and 5–6 weekend calls annually—roughly one weekend every ninth rotation. This balanced distribution ensures sustainable workloads and ample personal time.
This system contrasts sharply with understaffed facilities where CRNAs take call every third night and face chronic exhaustion. Here, rest and sustainability are priorities.
Epic EMR underpins efficient workflow with integrated documentation from pre-op to recovery. You can access schedules remotely, review patient charts, and communicate seamlessly with the surgical and nursing teams. The anesthesia module is streamlined, eliminating the frustrations of outdated systems.
Beyond software, you'll benefit from modern anesthesia equipment, comprehensive monitoring tools, ultrasound machines for blocks and vascular access, and fully stocked difficult airway carts. The OR culture is collaborative, with skilled nurses and surgical techs who ensure safety and efficiency.
Your patients embody the spirit of Eastern Oregon: hardworking agricultural and industrial laborers, young mothers, elderly ranchers, and construction workers. Many are bilingual—about 35% Hispanic or Latino—adding cultural richness to your work. These are grateful, community-centered patients, not anonymous faces in a city hospital.
Serving a young, active population (median age ~31), you'll see firsthand how your expertise restores health, mobility, and independence. Their gratitude and connection transform anesthesia care into something deeply human and profoundly rewarding.
Good Shepherd supports your ongoing professional growth through CME allowances, conference opportunities, and mentorship. You can refine specialties such as regional anesthesia, obstetric techniques, or airway management while maintaining a broad generalist foundation.
The absence of formal teaching or research means your focus remains on clinical excellence. For those who prefer patient care over academic politics, it's liberating. You're here to provide outstanding anesthesia care—not navigate bureaucracy or publish papers.
This is the kind of practice that keeps CRNAs engaged and fulfilled: challenging enough to stay stimulating, balanced enough to stay sustainable, and autonomous enough to remind you daily that your expertise truly matters.