[femmefatale]

I am in second year of nursing school and was thinking of doing CRNA. Could I get some advise as to which ICUs would boost my chances? Right now at the hospital that I work in they have a medical ICU so I was thinking that maybe I could start there and move to a bigger ICU unit, maybe cardiovascular or SICU. Any suggestions??

[Silverdragon102]

Welcome to the site

Sorry I can't answer your question but good luck in whatever you decide

[skipaway]

Any high acuity, full service ICU will be adequate. I was in an University based General Surgical ICU and felt my nursing experience was exemplary. The experience was invalubale and we took care of many different patients from teen aged to geriatric. We had trauma, general surgery, vascular, oncology ICU patients. Some say CVICU gives good experience and it does, but it's a "one trick pony" IMHO ie...same ole same ole. The experience will be adequate for CRNA school.

[jsteele99]

Most schools want adult ICU. In a CVICU, you will get experience with many vasoactive gtts, vents, swans, balloon pumps, etc. I have several friends that are now in school and they had all of their experience in a MICU.

[bob-cat]

micu is fine (worked for me), sicu preferred. if i wasn't heading back to school so soon, i'd be working OT in a sicu for the experience. 2/3 of my interview questions were surgical (which i could theorize on, but not speak from experience). get the ccrn up your sleeve for an edge too.

[heartrn35]

I am obviously biased but if they are really looking for experience with verts, pa lines, vasoactive gtts, etc, and they are seen most often in CTICU then why go anywhere else?????

[GmanRN]

Originally Posted by heartrn35

I am obviously biased but if they are really looking for experience with verts, pa lines, vasoactive gtts, etc, and they are seen most often in CTICU then why go anywhere else?????

Yeah you really need to study up and get as much hands on experience with verts as you can. Verts are the wave of the future. I wouldnt consider working in a hospital that didnt have one vert for every ICU patient.

Couldnt resist.

[bob-cat]

CTicu's definitely the best choice in my opinion, but in my case i wanted this particular hospital, and the ctsicu was not hiring, micu was. it's quite possible that there is a regular flow of new hires out of our micu that go on to be crna's because of the caliber of this particular micu, rather than it just being a micu. if there is the option, go to sicu if the end goal is crna...

[neurogeek]

Neuro ICU is my background. And since it's in a Level I trauma center I have plenty of experience with gtts, vasoactive meds, swans, ventrics, vents, CRRT, BIS, Bio-Z, etc. The list goes on and on. I think that any high acuity ICU is fine as long as you get the exposure to these sorts of things. You can work in a low acuity CVICU and never touch a Swan, or a Bio-Z, or a BIS.....so it's all in the acuity of the unit.

[Natasha83]

Hello to everyone!
I am currently a nursing student , interested to become CRNA. I would like to interview professional nurse anesthetist for my nursing progect. Below I post some questions regarding my interview. I would like to hear you stories and excperiances and share it with my class.
Here are the questions.
1.What is your educational preparation ? How long have you been in practice? What additional certification do you have? Why did you choose to obtain these additional certifications? (if apply) What value do they hold to you

2. What is your role within Care Delivery System? (Identify the type of Health Care Delivery System and/or unit within which you work and describe your position).

3.What do you think your role within the nursing practice? Are you Provider of Care, Manager of Care or/and Member with in Profession of Nursing.

Description:
Role as “Provider of Care” characterized by critical thinking, clinical competence, accountability, and commitment to the values of caring.

Role as “Manager of Care” is characterized by collaboration, organization, delegation, accountability, advocacy and respect for other health care workers.

Role as “Member within the Profession of Nursing is characterized by a commitment to professional growth , continuous learning, and self-development.

4. How do you utilize the nursing process in practice. (which includes: assessment, diagnosing, planning, implementing, and evaluating). What s your responsibility to the development of a patient/client care plan? What is your thoughts/beliefs about “care plans”?

5. What is your viewpoints pertaining to the basic concepts of nursing? (i.e. What is your thoughts about being caring and compassionate? What communication techniques do you feel are most effective? How do you define “health and wellness”? What type of patient teaching activities do you perform in your practice?)

6. How do you define “ Professional Nursing Practice”? What do you feel differentiates your practice from that of an LPN?

7. What is the hiring institution’s view of nursing? (i.e. Are there different levels of nursing practice, such as “clinical ladders”? Are nurses involved in committees? Do the nurses get rewarded for their committee work? Are nurses encouraged to further their education? Are they rewarded for continuing their education?)

8. How have current trends in healthcare affected your professional experience? (e.g. technology, the nursing shortage, mandatory overtime, etc.)