Work While In School?

At my program it is almost unheard of. A guy in my class tried a lasted 4 months and then had to quit for fear of failing. We goto class about 25-30hrs a week. Then add another at least 25 to study. With me maybe more. Thats pushing a good 50hrs already. Not to mention it might be rather hard to study in a chopper in the air. Maybe not though. Other programs allow some work in the didactic phases. However during most clinical phases you will prob have to totally quit. Depending on what program you are at and how strong their clinical training is you may be looking at as with us 50-65hrs a week in the OR, 24 hr call on the weekend, call from 3pm-6am during the week, preops, post ops, paper work. You may put in a good 80hrs a week depending on what clinical site you are at a my program. The experience pays off though and is worth the work eventually when you may be more independent straight out, put in tons more blocks, done tons of call trauma at 4 in da morn and you are running the show in the OR.

They are big on you not being exhausted from working as a RN and screw up in clinicals. Believe me you will be wore the hell out and beat down enough. I would not advise anyone to work during clinicals and myself didactic as well.

I have heard from a few friends and TCU/TWU alums that many times a larger percentage of the folks that worked failed compared with those that didnt work during didactis. You may have a decent head start but im warning you you have no idea what you are about to get into. Really its not worth the risk especially when you will end up having 100k in loans on the line that if you fail or faq up in clinical b/c you were tired from other RN work you will have to pay back regardless.

Work as much as you can now, pay any loans you can. Max out on all loans. Quit work, focus on your new profession. Tell your wife to hang tight for a few years and it will be more than all good after when you are making a killing.
Just my 2 cents.

Its a lot to do on top of clinicals etc. but a p/t CNA or tech job might actually help clincal proficiency.Just mke sure itr doesn't cause you to lose sleep or have low energy levels for clinicals!:Melody:

Michelle,
The OP is referring to working while in anesthesia school, not undergrad nursing school. Working as a CNA or patient care tech at this point won't do squat for clinical proficiency in anesthesia.

Mike,
In my class there is one student who still works the infrequent weekend shift, but the rest of us had all quit working by our second semester in school. Even if I had not already quit working, I am just far too exhausted at this point after clinicals & studying to try pulling any shifts on the unit. Besides that, and this is just my own personal philosophy & not a judgment of what anyone else does, but I feel like I would be doing myself & my patients a huge disservice if I spent my time working rather than focusing on learning the science and art of anesthesia. Patients deserve my best & most focused attention, & that is what I try to give them. They deserve to have even a student nurse anesthetist that is striving to provide them the best anesthetic care they can get. To do that really takes a lot on the students part, & means never settling for a brief read on the procedure, but rather an in depth understanding of all that is involved, and that requires massive amounts of time spent reading & planning.

JMHO,
Lou

Back when I went to anesthesia school, I actually worked PRN for a smaller community hospital. I usually worked Fri. nights 12hrs in their Med-Surg ICU. It was not a very difficult unit to work and I could do some studying while I was there. 48hrs/month was not a lot, but financially, it did help. These days, programs dissuade their students from working.

You really just have to sit down and really decide. What is more important? An extra 500-600$ a month or an extra 30-40hrs a month to study, relax, spend time with wife and kids if your a parent, take care of other business that you may be putting off due to your heavy school schedule during the week ect. To me that extra cash just isnt worth it to me. I would rather my sanity than to again be doing ICU type work when Im totally stressed about something school related.

I currently work about 2 12 hr. shifts a month in the ICU. I am one of 3 people in my program currently working and it is REALLY discouraged by our program director. I work because my ICU paid for some of my general MSN classes so I owe them a year, I like the people I work with, and the extra spending money is nice. That being said, they are really, really cool with when I want to come in and don't pressure me to work more than I am able. I am doing fine in classes and clinical but I am not one of those people who thinks my life is over if I get the occasional B.

Working while in anesthesia is your choice. I worked once a week as a recovery room nurse in a small hospital. I have 8 months to go.

Our program strongly discourages working while in school. However, there are a few people in my class who will pick up a weekend shift every now and then if we have some down time in our schedule (which isn't very often). My program is front-loaded though, so we are still in our didactic phase. I have a feeling once we start clinicals full-time it would be nearly impossible to work, as we will be in the OR 48+ hours a week. Good luck!!!