[FLCRNA2B]

Approx. how many hours a week do you SRNA's spend studying? How many hours a week in class/clinicals?

[SproutRN]

Originally Posted by FLCRNA2B

Approx. how many hours a week do you SRNA's spend studying? How many hours a week in class/clinicals?

It really depends on the classes I'm taking. I generally have classes in the morning time until lunch and usually one day without class. After lunch, I stay on campus and study until 5 or 6pm. I have a 40 minute commute. Sometimes I make up note cards with lists of things that I can review in the car. After a little time with the family at home and the kids are in bed, I study a little longer. Everyone is different but the typical 3 hours per hour of lecture. On the weekends I go to the local library and put in several hours each day too. One of my classmates gets up each morning at 0430 to study before class and goes to bed early each evening. I do take Saturday evenings off for a little bit of family time and Sunday mornings for church activities. You just have to do whatever suits your needs.

Sprout

[MelissaRN]

I graduated school in May 2003. I started the program in fall of 1999. I had an 8 year old, 6 year-old, 5 year-old, and a 2 year-old. I actually feel like I had a lot of quality time at home. I didn't attend classes 8 or 12 hours a day like working, I had summers off and worked per diem as a tech on weekends and sometimes during vacations. I actually miss the summers off now that I'm working. At the hospital you can only get a certain amount of time off during the summers!

Organization is the key. Study an hour or two a night rather than cramming and start research papers early so that you aren't cramming during finals week to get it all done. Keep an "assignment" notebook and write down what you are going to do each night. It really worked for me and I got a lot of people in my class doing the same thing.

[Spidey's mom]

Originally Posted by TraumaNurse

I think the argument that, choosing to advance ones career is selling out on your family, is ridiculous. To insinuate that a person has less love for their children because they strive for a better career and lifestyle is ludicrous. I am going to CRNA school not only for me, but for my family. There are things in life that you must sacrifice for the greater good.
If you are happy in your career and have no desire for advancement, then it is easy to say that you would never take any time away from your family again. However, not everyone has that luxury, and sometimes you must make sacrifices in order to improve things for yourself and your family. Does the willingness to make sacrifices mean that you have less love for your family...NO.
I will agree with you that it would have been a lot easier to do this pre-children, but life is not that easy.

I didn't say that choosing to advance one's career is selling out on your family as a blanket statement. I was merely writing about my experience in nursing school as an older mom with kids and it was very hard and looking back I'm not sure I can say it was worth it. That is strictly my experience and my own opinion, which the OP asked for. Granted, this was nursing school and not CRNA school however I've heard that CRNA school is harder.

I don't want to be a pollyanna and pretend that it is easy. I also don't believe in the "quality vs. quantity" idea . . . . my own experience tells me that I missed out. My kids missed out. My husband missed out.

Please accept each of our own experiences as valid for us. And the OP can take what she wishes from each of our experiences and maybe be stronger for it.

Thanks,

steph

[Brickman]

Originally Posted by FLCRNA2B

Did you all feel that you missed out on valuable time with your family and friends while in school? Was it possible to spend decent time with your family while in school? I have 2 young boys that will be in school full-time when I start the program (hopefully) and I am getting nervous with all the talk about how grueling school is. I would love to hear how people with family commitments did it through school. I want to be a CRNA with all my heart and can't imagine doing anything else. Thanks!

I personally think that if you don't follow your heart then you will regret it the rest of your life. If it helps at all I can't really remember much before I was ten years old and certainly don't have trauma because my mother wasn't always home. Will it be worth it to you? No one can answer that, but you.

[TraumaNurse]

FLCRNA2B,
I was told before I started that I should expect 60-80 hours per week between class, study and clinicals as a ballpark figure. This is a fairly accurate estimate.

Qwiigly,
Yes, you are entitled to your opinion, I never said you weren't, I just said I disagreed with some of your points. I do agree with you that having multiple points of view adds depth to the discussion and adds valuable info for those interested.

[Passin' Gas]

Originally Posted by MelissaRN

I graduated school in May 2003. I started the program in fall of 1999. I had an 8 year old, 6 year-old, 5 year-old, and a 2 year-old. I actually feel like I had a lot of quality time at home. I didn't attend classes 8 or 12 hours a day like working, I had summers off and worked per diem as a tech on weekends and sometimes during vacations. I actually miss the summers off now that I'm working. At the hospital you can only get a certain amount of time off during the summers!

Organization is the key. Study an hour or two a night rather than cramming and start research papers early so that you aren't cramming during finals week to get it all done. Keep an "assignment" notebook and write down what you are going to do each night. It really worked for me and I got a lot of people in my class doing the same thing.

This thread is discussing the rigors of enduring nurse anesthesia school, not nursing school. However, your comment regarding organization is true, but the numbers are dramatically increased. Trauma Nurse wrote he/she should expect 60-80h/week committed to class, study, and clinicals. Pretty accurate estimate. Getting ADLs done (yes, activities of daily living, I'm still a nurse ) ....grocery shopping, pay bills, do laundry is tough. Hard to make yourself stop for gas at 1900 on the way home from clinical when you've been at the hospital since 0600 even though the little gas pump light is on! When you get home still have to write care plans for tomorrow's cases, look up a dozen diseases (that's one of your three patients), and you're starving...lunch was at 1100. You start out the program 'dressed' every day with makeup and hair done. By the end of the first month it's t-shirts and shorts, down to lipstick and mascara, hair done most days. By the end of the first semester it's t-shirts and scrub pants, clogs (quicker on and off), chapstick, hair in pony tail.

Tough, you bet. Worth it? Absolutely.

PG

[movinsouth]

TraumaNurse-

You are exceptionally motivating! You seem to have had a positive outlook from the beginning, before you even started your program. That seems to be absolutely necessary to suceed. Thanks for giving us all hope !

[FLCRNA2B]

So you are saying an average day is around 13 hours (0600-1900)? This is before studying and careplans? Is this a realistic average? The program I am applying to states 40 hours the last 2 semesters.

[Passin' Gas]

Originally Posted by FLCRNA2B

I appreciate everyone's replies. The program I will be applying to in 2.5 years increases clinical hours throughout the program. In the last 2 semesters you have clinicals 40 hours/week. My plan is to listen to lecture tapes during the 1 hour commute to and from school and study 1-2 hours a night. Is this a realistic amount of study time...approximately 3-4 hours/day? This would give me a few hours each evening to spend with my family, right? I plan on taking out lots of student loans and my mother in law will be watching my 2 kids while my spouse is working and I am in school. As far as the weekends, if I studied approx. 3 hours each weekend day, wouldn'd that leave the rest of the day for family? It seems like I could find the time for my family...am I being niave?

I don't know what school you will be attending, nor do I know what your school will require for class work while in clinical. There are requirements for 'on-call' experiences and emergency cases. When do emergency cases show up? After 1500. Hospitals are 24/7. When are CRNAs in the hospital? 24/7. Who's going to administer (or complete ) the anesthesia for the drunk who tried to wrap the car around a tree at 0100? Someone's gotta do the anesthesia while ortho and neuro attempt to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. How are SRNAs going to get emergency cases? By being on call rotations. I would be extremely surprised if your clinical hours were 0700-1500 M-F for the entire 2.5 years.

Yes, you may be SCHEDULED for 40 h/week. There will be times the days goes longer than expected. Example: you start a craniotomy for tumor resection at 0700. At 1200, surgeon is still resecting, more involved than expected. At 1700, the surgeon finally resects last of the tumor and begins to close. You've been involved with this case for 10h. I would definitely want to stay to see how the patient wakes up. That may be another 2h between closing, emergence from anesthesia, and transfer to ICU. Then you get to come back again tomorrow at 0600 and take care of more patients.

As for study hours, estimate about 3h+/- of study time for each hour of lecture/week. Taking 15h of classes X 3 = 45h of study time. This is an estimate. Some students get by with fewer hours, some students put in more time depending on the material.

PG