Why Shouldn't I Tell?

Frequently on this board, we have posters who are not yet in nursing school (or have just started) who want to become CRNA's. I often advise these people, among other things, to keep their ultimate goals pretty much to themselves. I have further advised them when asked what they want to do in their nursing careers to keep the answer to "When I graduate, I want to work critical care."

Recently, I have received a few PM's asking me why I give this advice. Rather than repeat myself in numerous PM's, I thought I'd just post a thread on the topic. Also, this will give me a thread I can point to for others who may ask the question. So, here it is.

You will run into some nurses who have a prejudice against CRNA's. When I decided to apply, I had one nurse actually ask me why I was "leaving nursing." Some of the nurses who don't like CRNA's are instructors in nursing schools. Nursing school is tough enough without having instructors frown on your personal plans. Additionally, I have heard of an ICU manager or two who avoided hiring nurses who wanted to become CRNA's because "I don't want to just get them trained up, only to have them leave."

So, why does this prejudice exist? I'm not entirely sure. I personally think a lot of it has to do with jealousy. Some nurses are jealous of the salary we get, or the perceived respect we get, or I don’t know what else. A recent poster to this board asked why so many nurses wanted to be CRNA’s. He “didn’t want anyone to take it personally, but perhaps it was just because they didn’t really want to be nurses, but they wanted to be pseudo-MD’s.” The reasons are legion. But, they are out there, and there is no reason to make your life any tougher than it needs to be.

I will say that those who are prejudiced against CRNA’s are a very small minority. But they are out there, working as staff nurses, nurse managers, and instructors in nursing schools. The problem is figuring out who they are. Better to be safe than sorry.

I welcome any comments, agreeing or disagreeing. This is based solely on my experience.

Kevin McHugh