Chiropractor to CRNA advice

Nursing Students SRNA

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Okay, so we have a bit of a unique situation and tons of questions. Already just searching on this site we have found a lot of answers, so thanks!

A little background:

My fiancee and I are both young chiropractors in our own practice. However, she doesn't like a lot of things about our profession and wants to go into nursing (more specifically CRNA - at least thats the idea at this point.) Providing quality care for our patients is great, but the business/selling side of chiropractic really frustrates us.

Anyway, starting a family and our financial situation are major concerns to us which basically translates into "she wants the quickest and least expensive way to get her CRNA degree. By reading many posts on here, we realize that the CRNA school you go to is of little relevance (besides really learning the material and passing the exam).

Our Proposed Plan:

Okay, so she recently applied and was accepted to the the local school here. After completeing a few random classes that she didnt take in undergrad (Phys. Ed and foreign language), she will apply to the nursing program and if she gets in starts next spring. Two years and total $10K to get the BSN. During this time she can work part time at the office helping out with insurance, reception, and some nutritional patient care. (She did think about just doing an online NP degree after the BSN, but she seems to be more interested in CRNA)

Then, we are at crossroad since where we live doesnt have a CRNA program. But, we would be willing to sell the practice and move somewhere for her to get a job near a CRNA program and an ICU job. That year she would have the ICU job would establish residence for a public school CRNA program tuition. Then apply to CRNA school. Then after 2.5 years, pass test and get a job as a CRNA.

Questions:

-I realize its extremely competitive, but what exactly does that mean? She was valedictorian in high school and the doctorate program at chiro school (4.0gpa in a fairly rigorous program). So, if she does well (like 3.9 -4.0GPA) in the BSN program, are her chances very good of getting into a local CRNA school on the first shot?

-Does this path make the most sense?

-What does she need to do at this point to better her chances of getting into a CRNA school. For example, I saw on ECU's website that courses in physiology and chemistry/biochemistry within five years are highly recommended. Her's will be slightly longer than 5 years when she applies. So, does she need to retake these classes to better her chances?

-Right now, we are looking at 3 states - North carolina (where we are now), Mass, or Iowa. We would like to be in the Boston area, but both accredited schools are private and we dont want to add to our already ENORMOUS student loans (combined over $300K) from chiro school. Pros / cons of these states for CRNA?

- Anything else we should know or consider?

Thanks a ton for any advice you can offer us. As you can see, we are very new to this and it's early on. But, she wants to make sure she takes the best and most efficient steps possible.

-Chris

Is the chiropractor career field that bad for people to completely switch?

I'm a relatively new grad, so its a grind to build a practice. Could it be rewarding in the end? Maybe, maybe not. There is no certainty. I have looked into buying established practices but people want unreal amounts of money for them. Then I figure I could use the money that I would have put into buying a practice into continuing my education. I would rather learn than go knocking down doors for new patients. Also, many chiropractors seem to be at the front lines of the anti-vax and anti-medicine movement which is just silly. We have zero training in those topics, but yet I see that crap shared by chiropractors all over the internet. It is not a direction that I support. Maybe I am taking it too personal, but I just wanted to help people get out of pain. If I do the FNP route I will try and team up with an MD and utilize both.

Good to hear from you guys. It's crazy it's been 4/5 years. So, here is the update...

My wife finished up her BSN locally and luckily get into an ICU new grad program at local hospital and starting working in the Surgical/Trauma ICU. After 2 years working and also taking the GRE, she applied to 2 in state CRNA schools and got into both and chose the school closest to us us (2 hours from my chiro office). She just finished her first year.

I think having the background in chiro definitely helps your chances of getting in, however it's hard to say in her case as she had excellent credentials besides that (4.0GPA in Chiro School and 4.0GPA in Nursing school and a pretty high GRE school).

Anyway, the first year went great (still has a 4.0 in CRNA school as well so far) and I work Mon-Thursday so I go visit her every Thursday through Sunday and it's worked better than expected for us. She really likes the school and we are both excited for the end point (Spring 2018).

One issue to be aware of as a chiro is that when she applied for student loans she was completely denied on all possible loans as they said she maxed out everything due to chiro school ($200K + loans). Damn chiro school is a rip off! Luckily, the CRNA school is a public in state school that isn't too expensive and our chiro office is doing pretty well so we can cover the cost of her tuition.

Overall, we are both very happy she went this direction. It will be very nice when she is making a sizable known income every month to go along with the ups and downs of profit with the chiro office.

Please ask any and as many questions as you want! I'm happy to help as a few years ago, we were in same boat and wanted to hear from someone that went through the process.

Thanks for updating! Its cool to hear about her successful journey to become an SRNA

Really a tough question...

I often get younger kids and high school students asking me about the profession as they want to get into chiropractic after they see the good results from treatment. Instead of fully endorsing that choice, I often warn them. Not that it is a bad profession, but it can be a risky one in that you basically have one real option - to start your own business. And the chiro schools don't teach this side of the profession very well (at least when I went). That's why I tell younger students to look into physical therapy or nursing or PA, etc as you have more OPTIONS. It's tough to spend $200K+ on an education and come out basically not guaranteed anything. You can't work for a hospital or some big healthcare center. You either open up on your own and do your best to make things work OR you can try to get a job as an associate doc, but they pay VERY low considering the education. I think as an associate doc you make $40-50K starting which you can probably make without 8 years of college :)

That all being said, I love what I do and it's worked out very well for us. Took a while to get started, but now after 8 years in Practice I am working Mon-Thursday and need to probably bring in a 2nd doc to keep up with demand.

As MIZ-DC mentioned, the chiropractic field is a little divided. There are a lot of docs that focus on all sorts of natural remedies/supplements and can be rather anti-medical on many things. I am pretty much the complete opposite. I focus on musculoskeletal issues (mostly like a sports injury doctor) using muscle techniques (Graston) with adjustments. I don't get into vaccines or getting patients off their meds or any of that stuff as I think that is a very dangerous slope.

You can definitely create a great life for yourself with chiropractic, but it is definitely is a bit risky and a fair amount of time and work to get it going the right way. I do no advertising or anything like that at this point, so my job is a lot more fun that when I first started.

It's just that nursing and other fields have soooo many more options. The CRNA route alone is (in our case) $35-40K for the whole program and when you get out you are pretty much guaranteed a job that pays six figures easy. Initial return on investment is much better from a straight financial viewpoint. More importantly, my wife seems to love what she is learning.

Hope that helps!

- Chris

Hi Chris,

I'm a former D.C. (Life Univ) With plans of going to CRNA school. Completed accelerated nursing program (in Puerto Rico- much cheaper), finished my first year on med-surg. Got an offer for Neuro ICU RN at a different hospital but its a pretty big pay cut. Big enough for me to worry if I'll be able to cover my bills as I go paycheck to paycheck. Worth the stress and extra budgeting if I end up a CRNA. I have to decide within next week if I'm switching hospitals and in fact going into ICU and I would make that switch if and only if, I actually go to CRNA school. Now that I have an offer for ICU, I'm nervous/scared to go to CRNA as I would be uprooting my kids again, to go back to Puerto Rico (again, school there is a fraction of cost). I'm ok with doing this if it pays off- meaning, I complete the program, graduate and pass my boards. My question is, what does your wife say about work load / necessary study time of CRNA school compared to Chiro school?

Thank you!

Hey Flaviammc,

Congrats on the ICU offer. Have you looked into the public CRNA schools in your state? I know my wife's tuition was fairly reasonable, but as you probably know we had to go out of pocket for tuition as Chiro school maxes out your student loans.

CRNA school is no joke as far as the intensity and schedule. It's different than chiropractic school, but I'm pretty sure she thinks its at least as intense and probably more time demanding.

Hope that helps... let me know if you have any more questions!

- Chris

Hey all,

I posted way back in 2012 when I was considering the same move from Chiropractic to CRNA. It's a long road, nursing school, ICU work and then CRNA school. With that said I am incredibly happy with the decision as I am in my first year of CRNA school. It's important to recognize that with nursing, as Chris has stated, there are a ton of options. Another chiropractor I know went the NP route and another works as the nursing director at a state hospital. If anyone here is considering the change I would humble suggest you go for it. Even my time as a bedside nurse in the ICU was substantially more satisfying to me than my time as a chiropractor. Good luck everyone with whatever you decide.

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