[chaosRN]

Hi!
I am a CVICU RN who has recently been thinking about going toward CRNA in the near future. I just have a few questions for new &/or experienced CRNA's:
I want to be sure I'm going to like being a CRNA before I apply to school. Should I shadow someone for a day (few days)? I love monitoring very critical pts, high tech equipment, (the more lines, the better), I love meds, & I love having one pt who I have to monitor constantly.
I have also heard (from most of the people I've talked to at my hospital) that usually CRNA's go into nursing knowing what they want to do. The only thing I knew, is that I wanted to be in ICU. Is there any CRNA's out there who was in my place at one time?
Thank You!!

[Businessman]

I'm in Nursing school because I want to be a CRNA ... and yes, I shadowed a CRNA to see what's it like ...
You should definitely do that ...

[smiling_ru]

I went into nursing school to be an ICU nurse, and that is what I did for many years. Did not even know about CRNA's until I moved to another state.
I too loved to take care of the most critical patient on the unit, the busier the better. The first time I thought about becoming a CRNA I dismissed it out of hand, assuming that it would be "boring". The second time, I shadowed CRNA's and did a little more research.

I have to say it is one of the best decisions I ever made. I am NOT bored, I love my job and almost everything about it.

[yoga crna]

Whether or not you love anesthesia depends upon your expectations, your honest reasons for wanting to be a CRNA and your commitment to being a professional.

I had no idea what I was getting into when I went into anesthesia. But then, I was young and immature. Anesthesia made me mature quickly and gave me a perspective and focus for my life.

Be prepared for life-long learning, stressful environment and a lot of people who want to tell you how to do your job. All of that is minor compared to the satisfaction you get when you make the patient's anesthesia and surgical experience good.

Good luck.
Yoga CRNA

[chaosRN]

I get bored easy, right now, I feel like I have tons to learn (probably always will) being a RN. Is CRNA like that? Is the profession like nursing where it is always develpoing & comming out with something new?
Thanks for replying!

[yoga crna]

If you have a problem with boredom, anesthesia may not be your field. Long cases in which the patient is doing well can be boring, but that is good, not bad. I get bored listening the the same jokes from the surgeons that I have heard a 100 times, listening to the nurses complain about things nurses complain about (it is endemic to nursing), listening to someone else's choice in music and those type of things.

I do not get bored with talking to patients, with looking up some new medication or syndrome and its anesthesia implications, with the technical aspect of anesthesia, the monitoring and second to second decision making necessary in the anesthesia process.

You need to spend a little time in the OR and see what it is all about. Maybe the ER or ICU would be a better career choice if you want excitment all of the time.

Yoga CRNA

[chaosRN]

I usually get bored after I feel like I've learned all I can. (usually takes me about 6-8months). I've been a nurse for only 2 years. My interest in monitoring pts more closly, effects of meds and technology, well, it seems like I can't get enough information. I always want to know more. I guess I say I get bored because I started out on a cardiac step-down floor & after 6 months I knew all the procedures we did on the floor, most of the meds we gave. It got to be so routine. I like routine, I just need more to learn. I guess I'm crazy (or still just too new), but I just crave information. Does all this make any sense or am I rambling? (sorry)

[melrey11]

yoga crna, out of all the posts in this forum, you are the first one I have read to point out the "boring" part of being an anesthetist. Point well made, something to think about, surgeries can last what seems like forever at times, just standing there (or if you can steal the chair from the OR nurse) charting. Still worth it, but point well made.

[deepz]

Boredom can be a problem for some people in anesthesia. Usually the ones you will discover reading a book, newspaper or magazine while they are supposed to be monitoring a patient -- and very well paid to do so -- are those with MD or DO behind their name. Occasionally they will be found to be absent from the OR. Or, in it, asleep. (Just my personal observation, I could be wrong. Only forty years experience to draw from.)

CRNAs in general learn to force alertness upon themselves. To hold the life of another human being in your hands is not a duty to be taken lightly. That fact alone should boost one's endogenous catecholamine levels a smidge and somewhat help to maintain vigilance, even in the middle of a long, long night. It's a learned behavior.

deepz

[Tenesma]

deepz...

1) i am impressed that you have been a CRNA since the age of 20

2) i feel bad that over the past 40 years you were exposed to anesthesiologists who would read in the OR

at my institution reading is not allowed unless it pertains to the patient's care... and that rule applies to both MD and CRNA

but to imply that MDs take their duty lightly is a bit of an insult