Shawna Martin blames her mother for her career choice. One of Campbell County Health’s
newest Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) was looking for a
new challenge and the opportunity to do more with her nursing background
after seven years in
ICU and coronary care.
Her mom, an Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN), had some ideas about how Shawna
could learn and grow in her profession. This lead first to a nine-month
stint on a Mercy Ship off the coast of Africa, working as a charge nurse
and ICU nurse on a surgical ship providing pre-op and post-op care in
a third world country; and then to a CRNA Master’s program at the
University of Akron in Akron, Ohio.
As a CRNA, Shawna uses the nursing approach to patient care, learning the
patient’s unique history and developing an individual plan of care.
She says each patient is different, and the challenges of pain control,
avoiding post-anesthesia illness, and most importantly, safely and efficiently
inducing, maintaining, and emerging each individual patient from anesthesia,
can be an intricate puzzle.
Shawna and her husband Jeff enjoy hiking and camping, and both are certified
scuba divers. Right now they’re concentrating on getting settled
in Gillette and welcoming their first child in just a few weeks.
Welcome Shawna and family to Gillette, Wyoming!