Community ICU

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I have worked in a Community ICU for approximately 1.5 years. We take care of medical, surgical, and coronary ICU patients. I am very comfortable with vasoactive medications, ventilators, A-lines, CVP monitoring,etc, and have limited exposure to swans and CRRT. We also are first responders to any codes in the building. The only thing I have not been exposed to is IABP. I have one year left to complete an online RN to BSN program. My dilemma is I live approximately 1.5 hrs away to large teaching hospitals. I tried the commute and only lasted three months because they required rotating shifts and my health insurance did not cover anyone within 50 miles. I want to apply to CRNA school after obtaining my BSN next year. What are my chances with community ICU (3 years at that point) versus a larger teaching hospital? Should I try the commute again? What else can I do to be more competitive? I plan on applying to 4-5 schools all within 2hr radius.

*I am ACLS, BLS certified and am taking the CCRN this fall

Also I have already taken the GRE 550/540/3.5

My accumulative GPA- ASN- 3.5

BSN-3.8

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I think one good way is to call the schools, since you already know where you want to apply, and ask them. They may give you some helpful ideas.

While you did not ask specifically about this, I'm going to be not so nice, but also to point out that the GRE scores are not that outstanding (Especially for Quant and AWA) and you might want to ask them what is the minimum scores they will look at. (Usually schools do not advertise a minimum score, but if you ask, they will often tell you to make your score at least above a certain number, or they will tell you point blank that they don't really care about the scores at all).

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Thank you for your advice. I have spoke to all schools and have been encourages to apply however I know that a community ICU would heart my chances. Also, the GRE scores meet the criteria to get in all schools. Actually the minimum for 4 out of 5 schools were 400/400/3. The last school was 500/500/3.5. I will retake it if I do not get an interview. I am not proud of my scores but I am being honest about them.

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