Nurse Anesthesia at the Mayo Clinic

I'm not in the applying stage yet, but will be (don't let my screen name fool you). However, from growing up in the area, I can tell you that, yes, there is a high level of respect one gets from attending and coming out of any Mayo medical training facilities. I had a friend who went there for med school and when graduated was chosen over Harvard grads for her residency.

good luck.

Researching the school you go to will help a lot. What you learn and what you get to do within your scope as a SRNA differs between programs. Remember that it has to be the best program for YOU....

This was discussed a few months ago. Maybe this link will help answer some of your questions.

http://allnurses.com/forums/showthre...ht=mayo+clinic

There's a really great tool on this CRNA board... If you go to the main page of the CRNA board, click on "search this forum". You can do a search for any keywords that you want, such as "Mayo Clinic". If anyone has started a thread for that particular topic, then it will come up in your search. Cool, eh? I've learned a lot of answers to questions that I had with this searching tool.

I have talked with 4 separate CRNA's that attended there, they all seem to have fairly good things to say about it. but not raving compliments. the things they did like about it included learning quickly and being placed in situations very quickly by themselves, the things they didnt like were the lack of regional anesthesia opportunities. they liked the cost, being cheap but half said they would have chosen another school if they had it to do over. they felt that the name alone didnt warrant all the hype

I know this post was for the anesthesia school at Mayo, but I just wanted to give a little input about the work environment there. I worked there for a brief time, and thought it was a fantastic work environment. Everyone there was incredibly respectful of all the employees, and it seemed that everyone there really enjoyed their job. The only drawback was the city of Rochester itself....it is a quiet town, and for some people that might be great - but I was only 21 when I worked there, and the pace was a little too slow for me. However, if I were a little older with a family, I would definitely consider it.

I posted this a while back but I thought you might want to take a look at my decision process. I applied and interviewed at mayo, I also have 2 friends that attended. I declined acceptance there for a number of reasons. First, class size was over 30 and I wanted a smaller class size. Second, they do few if any central lines (politics). Third, regional blocks were also few and far between (politics). Fourth, the weather is really nasty and the program length means 3 winters there. Fifth, we had no support system and my wife felt she'd be really miserable there. On the other hand, the director seemed very nice, the tuition was dirt cheap, less than $8,000 for the whole thing. They offered a substantial monthly stipend for each month you were willing to work after graduation. My friends took the stipend some months and not others as their finances warrented. The regional and central line thing were the major reasons I chose another school, but this was 4 years ago and things may have changed. Call them, they were quite nice to deal with.

WntrMute2,
You make some good points here. Is there a way to find out which schools do enough central lines/regional blocks ?

So far, I can glean that information only from the schools' brochure.

Thanks,

Businessman

You need to ask directly. Ask them how many central lines the average student places and as about their commitment to regional anesthesia. For instance there are a number of schools in my area. 1 gives great regional exp. As well as frequent FOB ett experience. That same school can't find a facility that will give their students a lot of CVC placement, some but not great. 1 school affords almost no regional or CVC experience. As a mater of fact, when some of us rotated to the facility where they can get their only experience in those aspects, those of us with good experience gave up those cases so they could do them. 2 other schools rotate thru our facility where they can do CVC placement, a-line placement, SAB and epidurals along with bier blocks, so they are a bit better off in line placement but not as good in doing brachial plexus blocks, wrist blocks, LE blocks etc. We do a ton of SABs and quite a few epidurals so it works ok. Ask, ask, ask. they will tell you but not volenteer the info.