When did you decide to become a CRNA?

After having surgery I was looking back on the experience and the interactions with the CRNA and how prepared they made me feel for the procedure, which really caught my attention. then after some research and shadowing, everything about the job seemed to be something I would love doing everyday for a career. This was while I was pursuing another degree. So yes it was before nursing school I knew what I wanted to do and had this objective as my goal. I set my mind on it, I am not there yet, but starting crna school in jan 09. so hopefully I am on my way.

tony

My mother was a PACU RN and I was working at UPS as a dockworker. UPS went on strike in 1996 and I needed a job. My mom said I could push beds in the PACU for a couple of hours until I started back at work. I enjoyed the environment of the OR and PACU so much that I stayed. When I went to nursing school it wasn't as hard to get into, and I was lucky and got accepted. When I got accepted to nursing school my position as a per diem tech in the PACU was being eliminated and I needed a job. I didn't want to go to the floors and luckily there was a position in the OR for an anesthesia tech. The new Nurse Manager of the anesthesia department had changed the requirements for the job, (they used to be staffed by LPN's) and I was the second non-LPN anesthesia tech. That was all I needed! I had no idea what a CRNA did or what they made or anything. I learned to appreciate the profession for what it was. I decided from that point on that I wanted to do everything in my power to become a CRNA and here I am now, 6 years later from that point, a junior in anesthesia school.

Marc

Wow Marc, you seem like you really were prepared for what you wanted and went for it. Good Job!
My reasons are so boring, its not worth typing out. But I do love my job and the opportunities that it has given me.

I was called in to cover for one of the RNs who called in on an, oh so frequent,Friday night immune system collapse.I had worked a 10 hour day during the day and was really feeling sorry for myself and thought about other things I could do. I was a nurse manager of an ICU and had to fill in if staffing could not cover the call in. Friday nights were very common for illness to set in. Must be a lunar cycle effect of the immune system. My wife had been bugging me to do something else, as I really detested riding herd on 60 ICU RNs. So, I applied to law school, got admitted ( Law school is not very difficult to get into ) and on a whim applied to a new CRNA school in town. Was accepted , did not attend law school and have NEVER been happier.