Am I the only one??

Nursing Students SRNA

Published

I am curious if there are more students out there frequently fighting the urge to quit anesthesia school. Just hanging on b/c I have loans up the wazoo!!! I enjoy anesthesia for the most part, but being a student is less than glamorous!! Didactic was fine, but clinical is a different story........Any words of wisdom from other students or CRNA's would be greatly appreciated!!!

I'm not a SRNA, but I hope to help add some encouragement. What I would give to be in your position right now! Please hang in there and tell yourself each day that you just need to get through "today". Soon enough it will all be over. I am a recent ADN graduate, and I had to tell myself that all the time... especially when I was up all night revising my care plans or had a rough day at clinical. I know nursing school and CRNA school can't be compared, but it's the only personal perspective I can give at the moment! Best wishes to all of you soon-to-be CRNAs! I can't wait for the day that I am venting about my own CRNA school issues.

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Specializes in MICU & SICU.

I think that everyone has those days, weeks or months when you say what the hell was I thinking when I decided this was going to be my career path. No matter how many people tell you that it's going to really suck at times you can never appreciate that until you experience it for yourself. No one ever said this was going to be easy by an stretch. You just have to expect that there will be days that you want to crawl beneath the OR table to get away from the crap that is rolling down the hill from your CRNA that day. Take cover because if it has not happened to you yet it probably will and if it doesn't consider yourself lucky. Sure everyone has felt like quitting but take a look over shoulder and look at all the hurdles and hoops that you had to go through just to get to this point. That is enough of a driving force for me that keeps me in the game.

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Wow, how to reply?

First of all, you are not the only one. Trust me!

I graduate this year and will soon have this nightmare end. There truly has not been a day in the last year and a half that I have not regretted my decision to attend CRNA school. It has been, without a doubt, the most miserable time in my life.

There was a point that I reached about a year ago when I decided to quit, and I had never quit anything in my life...that is how miserable it has been. I was willing to quit and eat $60,000 worth of loans rather than continue in a profession that evidently encouraged the treatment that I was receiving. Had it not been for a call from a close friend and CRNA the day before I turned in my resignation letter, I would have been gone. Our instructors and the vast majority of clinical preceptors are the most miserable and evil bunch of individuals I have ever encountered in my life. How our college and the Council on Accreditation allows these rotten people to continue what they do is beyond me.

I have been verbally and physically insulted and assaulted while in clinical. I have been called stupid in front of peers and patients. I have had my appearance insulted. I have been accused of substance abuse while in clinical and have been subjected to random testing for same (and passed BTW, each and every time). And the list goes on and on.

I was asked just today at lunch by a junior student if I would do it again, and of course my answer was an unequivocal "No way in Hell!".

I have, however, never met a CRNA who has told me that the sacrifices they made were not worth it in the end. I am having a hard time seeing that at this point, but I pray everyday that they are right.

I will say this though: No matter how good the job is or how much it pays, there is no excuse whatsoever for the horrible treatment many SRNAs receive, and something needs to be done by the Council of Accreditation or the AANA to remedy this situtation.

Sorry to be a bummer, I'm just sick and tired of this crap.

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holy cow...im scared...please PM and tell me where this is that i need not apply!!! that sounds like my undergrad experience(as far as treatment of the students anyway)!!!

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Yeah, scares me too. I pray this is not a northeastern school.

Sounds like the same kind of :argue: some of the intensivists pull on the interns. It is so counterproductive and inhuman. It has to stop.

I'll say the same thing that i tell the interns: it has to stop with us. We can't grow into CRNAs and one day say "that's how i was treated, that's how i learned, so it's okay to treat others so abyssmally"

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Specializes in CCRN-CMC-CSC: CTICU, MICU, SICU, TRAUMA.

I had read an anesthetist post some advice on the topic of being the goat...he said that one particular MDA suggested that he "think of everyone [who acts in an abusive fashion] as mildly retarded...!!!" This way it helps diffuse the assault and may even allow you to keep your mental teflon suit in tact...letting everything roll off your back... easier said than done, but I like the quote... and I've found that it actually does help... so KEEP GOING!!! One day at a time!!! Anesthesia school, like nursing school, is but a brief moment in the big scheme of your career... it will pass... :anbd: Of course, after I start my program I will probably be scrambling to get back to this post to listen to my own inexperienced advice if I have any similar experience... I hope it's your program and I don't encounter this... geeezzz... I heard about a couple of programs near me that were like this and didn't bother to apply... luckily I got into my first choice where all students I've spoken with who are in or who have recently completed the program have only good things to say...

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Specializes in SICU.

Novicetoexpert,

Where did you get accepted?

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Yeah, scares me too. I pray this is not a northeastern school.

Sounds like the same kind of :argue: some of the intensivists pull on the interns. It is so counterproductive and inhuman. It has to stop.

I'll say the same thing that i tell the interns: it has to stop with us. We can't grow into CRNAs and one day say "that's how i was treated, that's how i learned, so it's okay to treat others so abyssmally"

I can guarantee you that it happens in northeastern schools.

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A few of our intensivists are truly lousy human beings ... i've seen really good interns break down, cry, faint, ... then the defensiveness and infighting that ensues, ... it so perplexes me as to why people think it's ok to behave so ... ego run amuck i guess

I do not learn in such an environment. If it's just one person, maybe two, i will manage, but if it's accepted behavior in the program, only stubborness will get me through, and my studies and my practice will suffer.

Please help me steer clear of any such programs, if you can PM or email me. I'm scared bootless

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Specializes in ER, OR, MICU.

I haven't thought of quitting due to clinicals but it has MORE THAN CHALLENGED me...actually, quitting is not an option especially because of what I have endured in clinical...it's been and continues to be a mental, physical, and spiritual challenge for me. What has helped me is to talk to other classmates who are going through similar things...actually al of us are or have experienced the same emotions and abuse at one point or another. Call it what you want...misery loves company...whatever, but it helped me to get through the rough times knowing that I had someone to talk to who could understand EXACTLY what I was going through. Hang in there!

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I know this post was originally made in March but it's a good one to keep going. I must say, (and I only say this to give people hope), that I have not suffered abuse, physical or emotional, in my clinical rotations. The worst preceptors I had (only two of the many) were just emotionally and socially weird and could not communicate effectively. Fortunately I only worked with them a handfull of times.

I hope your outlook improved Fungirl if you are still watching this post. Maybe just getting that much closer to graduation was enough to help you.

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Hey Thanks, ICUDOUCME, I thankfully did not quit school, at this moment, I only have 6 clinical days left!!! Thank God!!! I would never never never ever ever ever do this again!!! I still have a lot to learn at my first job, but I just can't wait until this whole anesthesia thing is a lot more enjoyable!! Making a paycheck will definitely help the situation!!! Good Luck to You!!!

I know this post was originally made in March but it's a good one to keep going. I must say, (and I only say this to give people hope), that I have not suffered abuse, physical or emotional, in my clinical rotations. The worst preceptors I had (only two of the many) were just emotionally and socially weird and could not communicate effectively. Fortunately I only worked with them a handfull of times.

I hope your outlook improved Fungirl if you are still watching this post. Maybe just getting that much closer to graduation was enough to help you.

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