I'm hoping to get some advice from those who have become CRNA's. I have been a nurse for about 5 years now. The first few years of my career were spent working at a busy ER in Baltimore City. Ratios were around 1:4 and it wasn't uncommon to have more than one intubated patient at a time. Lots of trauma, very fast paced environment, and an amazing learning experience. From there I transferred to Johns Hopkins to work on an inpatient psychiatric unit working with patients with Neurodegenerative diseases as well as chronic pain patients. It's been somewhat interesting, but also a bit disappointing. I don't feel like I'm learning as much as I was in the ER. I don't feel like psych is taken as seriously as I think it could be, despite working with some very complex patients. I'm underwhelmed by the polypharmacy and the belief that if a patient isn't making progress it's the patients "fault" for being non-compliant rather than considering *maybe* we could be approaching a patient differently or trying harder... Anyway, I'll save my rant about psych for another time.
Long story short, I'm planning for a career change. At the same time, I'm also planning to move from Baltimore to Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area in the Fall. I'm reluctant to continue in Psych for the above stated reasons (even though I'm now a board certified mental health nurse) I feel like every patient is a psych patient, every patient is experiencing their own emotional/psychological/behavioral challenges, etc so I feel my experience in psych can be relevant in many parts of my career and life. I don't want to sell myself short in my nursing career. I want to feel challenged and inspired. I've always felt fascinated and excited by procedures and the human body. I love surgery, I love learning about how the body works, how to fix, how medicines work, etc. I have my BSN and was considering moving toward either DNP or CRNA once I'm moved and settled into a new position.
My questions are:
- What units would be beneficial to work on in preparation for CRNA school? ED, ICU, maybe OR? Would ortho be relevant? PACU? Since my main experiences are ER and Psych those are obviously positions I could apply to, but I'm open to many experiences and feel interested in many types of nursing.
- Is it possible to go to CRNA school while working? Some employers offer tuition assistance but I would need to be working at least part if not full time to qualify for the benefit. Is that possible?
- Do you think it could be beneficial for me to start travel nursing on a medicine unit prior to applying for jobs in Raleigh, to show I have more up to date experience on a medical unit? Or is it better to stay where I am in Psych until I move in September?
