CCU experience sufficient for CRNA school??

[SoReady4CRNA]

:redbeathe:heartbeatDisclaimer: this is only my opinion and it may sound a little biased because I love cardiac nursing so much! I do not mean to offend anyone! :):heartbeat:redbeathe

Hello all! I am working at the CCU in my hospital and I absolutely love it!! I was working in a med/surg ICU (more medical than surgical cases) and I was starting to get depressed because of all of the death that surrounded us. I mean, those people are rotting on the vents. Aside from that, the nurses were straight up ******* (rhymes with witches, lol). Sorry for the graphic description, but it's true. When I moved over to CCU, we typically see people get better. Of course you see people die over there as well, but it is not as bad as where I was before. The majority of our cases are acute mi's with intervention (post stent pts with sheaths) and those patients can get pretty critical. We also get some CABG's that go wrong (post op bleeding or slow to wean off the vent). We also get any type of code patients. It just reminded me even more of why I wanted to be a CRNA.

I will tell you all, the heart is so fascinating. I noticed that in ICU they didn't really know much about the heart and the advanced rhythms. We did get vasopressors and drips like amiodarone and dobutamine, but they really didn't know much about it. I feel like I have stepped into another world. I am actually learning why I do things and how it affects the body. In ICU, it was basically "do it because it saves the patients life" or "do it because it works". If I were to look at a 12 lead ekg 5 months ago, it would have been like another language. I am slowly (but surely) starting to learn about how to interpret 12 lead ekgs. They don't seem so foreign anymore. Sorry about trailing off topic, but I am just so happy. I was beginning to think that critical care wasn't for me until I found this.

I will be honest though. I do not get vent experience all of the time like I did in ICU. We do have CVPs, A-lines, and some rare swanz ganz cases but we don't get a lot of vents. I'd say that I probably take care of a vented patient every other week instead of every week like ICU.

My question is......are CCU nurses able to get into CRNA school? I know that some CCU nurses have been accepted, but the majority of the time they are crosstrained ICU/CCU. What about having only CCU experience? To be a better applicant, I plan to train in CCU for another year and a half (because I just love it so much!) and then move on to CVICU. I'm not sure yet. Is it possible to get into anesthesia school with only CCU experience?

Any input/suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

[tonyccrn]

ok, first I am not an expert, so take the info for what its worth. yes you can get in with CCU experience. schools will look at the type of experience and your acuity. you might want to move to a higher acuity unit if you only get vents every other week. typically high acuity icu's, nurses get vents and vasopressors everyday, and schools like that. just think, you will be dealing with people on vents and usually pressors everyday.

good luck

tony

[CCRN-CMC-CSC]

ok, first I am not an expert, so take the info for what its worth. yes you can get in with CCU experience. schools will look at the type of experience and your acuity. you might want to move to a higher acuity unit if you only get vents every other week. typically high acuity icu's, nurses get vents and vasopressors everyday, and schools like that. just think, you will be dealing with people on vents and usually pressors everyday.

good luck

tony

Also make sure you arrive a few minutes early for your shift and ask the charge nurse making assignments to please give you the sicker patients. Ask for the vents, swans, IABPs, BiVads, etc. I am sure you have a few vents at all times they just may not be assigned to you. Between your previous ICU experience and your CCU experience you should have a good shot at getting into school. Good luck!

[imfunny]

WOW- you all seem to like CCU so much. I on the other hand want nothing to do with it. I'm a new grad completing my 6 month of nursing. I was hired for a PCU floor but it closed and now I'm floating to CCU, stepdown, ER, and openheart. I don't have much med/surg except for what I did during clinicals... I feel it is so wrong to float me to these areas without the proper orientation but management says that because I have ACLS and a one week critical care course that they provided (crappy by the way) that I can go to these floors. I can tell you that in my heart I don't want to do it. Everyday I have to go to work I am dreading it because I don't know where I will be and especially don't want to go to CCU or open heart. People tell me it must be a fear of the unknown but I promise you that I just don't like that kind of nursing. At this point I don't know what I want to do because I'm so depressed about my situation. Any words of wisdom? I think I have to start looking for another job maybe in med/surg so that I can get the basics.

[Putu2Sleep]

CCU is good experience. but really if you love the heart why not try the CVICU. you will get the heart patients and get the surgical experience that CRNA programs look for. CVICU you will get every patient vented and still get those post MI patients on top of some really sick valve and VAD patients (if your program does transplants). but yes CCU will be good experience but i was told in my interview they definitely prefer surgical or CVICU.