My SRNA Journey

Neuro_gassed

Before Nursing School

I fell in love with Nurse Anesthesia during a traumatic event involving my god brother.Its amazing because I already knew I wanted to be a critical care nurse at this point, but this was when my eyes opened to nurse anesthesia. So I would literally sit on my mom's floor (IDK why I didn't sit on the couch haha) and research everything about CRNA, what they did, how to get there etc. Allnurses was my primary help! I mean I felt as If I knew everything, Ha I knew about the CCRN, Pals, TNCC before entering Nursing school. Unfortunately, in high school I was not the straight A student, focused on popularity etc. Always smart, Knew I wanted to be a Nurse, but just wanted to have fun, (I mean geez, I was a kid).

Fast forward to college, I wanted to take a different approach so I actually studied and maintained a decent gpa, I loved science so I always made an effort to get good grades in such. Not always did that happen due to participating in track during school and honestly enjoying myself. On top of that I rented a condo w/ 2 friends and needless to say we ran into some financial problems so that shifted my focus from school sadly. I remember I had to go the campus medical center and I was seen by the NP and I told her I wanted to go to nursing school and she asked me some questions I had no clue of, and she said "I wouldn't let you into my nursing program" I said "WOW". Also, my advisor didn't sign me up for a class so that set my time back to apply by a year. So at 21, I applied and was accepted.

Nursing School

I was excited about becoming a nurse, I looked forward to clinical. I looked forward to learning everything I could and making sure the preceptors and instructors knew that. Which they did because the step down unit I was on, the manager noticed my interest and relayed that too my instructor. I was able to receive her email and stayed in-touch with her throughout my senior year and she ultimately gave me my first nursing job. I observed in on multiple surgeries but honestly I had no interest in watching the OR nurses... I honestly stood by the CRNA and watched him. They even allowed me to observe on pre-op assessments, increasing my passion for CRNA School. I graduated with ok grades then, Soon I would study for the NCLEX and would past the first time around and start on step down.

Post RN

Working on step down w/ a 1:4 ratio was initially fun I had a good time learning about vent's and certain drips but I soon found myself realizing this definitely was not something I would do for 5+ years I am sorry. During my time I loved when the ICU nurses would come down just observing them was intriguing, their knowledge, demeanor, and calmness in extreme situations made me love ICU. I just felt they knew the answer to it all. So after 8 months in I started searching for ICU jobs, I managed to score 3 job offers within the same company but different hospitals. Needing my managers' approval to start since I was within the company, She declined each offer stating "I was not ready" This was all her plot to keep me because of staffing shortages. She thought I would give up but I applied out of the hospital and at 24 years old I started on a neuro icu at a level 1 trauma center. Everything happens for a reason.

Because I loved this position instantly! I learned everything I could, I would soon become charge nurse, obtained my CCRN & TNCC, shadowed 20+ hrs,I sat on several committees and I did a medical mission trip to the Philippines. I took this time to retake 4 science classes over that I had C's in and received A's in each while working 50+hrs a week and driving 3hrs to class 1x/week. I took the dreaded GRE, and did not have a score >300(I honestly could not get into it). So then I started to apply!!

Application Process

I was always confident I would be admitted, just a matter where. Honestly, my first two were rejections because of my GRE score, but then the interviews started coming in from school's who didn't focus much on GREs. My first interview I honestly bombed it due to nervousness! haha I went blank, did not sound confident, I even jokingly stated "wow I am blowing this interview". I ended up getting an alternate spot. Second interview: I prepped intensely, I knew my mistakes and focused on them. I shortened my answers, I knew everything inside and out about neuro literally! An focused on my faith this time around and I killed my interview!(a good killing)I felt it soon as I left. I felt as if we all bonded, it was such a good time despite the drilling of clinical questions. The fact is you have to be hungry for it. My mindset was I was not going to let someone be hungrier than me an take my spot. I had another interview but i declined due to being accepted to my other school. So at the age of 26 I will be starting CRNA school my first year applying.

I wrote this to encourage & inspire others that with hard work you will get in! Not every school is looking for only perfect academic students (but certainly not the worst either) I believe they look at you as a whole! Your passion, personality, Growth, people that will be successful and they want people they can see as their colleague in this elite profession! I was around a 3.4 GPA, science GPA 3.6 BUT with NursingCas they calculate everything as a whole, no substituting old grades for new ones and haha I won't tell you what my NursingCas GPA was. My school compared my science GPA with my NursingCas GPA and asked why was my GPA so low compared to my high science GPA. And I told them the god honest truth. This is getting long, so ask me any question, but I want to let you all now it can be done with Faith, clear vision and hard work!

My SRNA Journey

Before Nursing School

Nursing School

Post RN

Application Process

About Neuro_gassed

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