CRNA dream

deepz · May 12, 2006

Chill.

Despite the awful report you may have read in the McFN thread, the interviewers are actually on your side, not against you. Do not go into the process expecting it to be adverserial or overly intense. Most are quite low key -- even friendly.

Courage. And a heart. And a brain. Oh my!

Go for it.

This may sound silly, but it's quite serious to me. A career as a CRNA is truly my dream. I have had my BSN for 5 years and have traveled for 3 years - working only in ICUs - some for only 3 months and several for 6-9 months. As I want to pursue my dream, the interview process scares me tremendously - keeping me from applying. I do not question my knowledge or my skills as an ICU nurse, but I question my ability to verbalize/demonstrate my knowledge in such an intense situation as the interview.
PLEASE - ANY ADVICE?

nursenary57 · May 12, 2006

Walec1,

I understand your nervousness, especially since I just went through the process in January. I'm very fortunate that I only had to do one interview and I start school in July! The key to getting through the interview for me was to overprepare. Probably not what you wanted to here.

I talked to many people who had attended/was attending my school of choice (mtsa.edu). I learned about the type of interview that the school did and what they expected. Some of these people had interviewed at several schools and talked about the vast differences in style of interview. Some were basic meet and greets while they looked over your transcripts. The school I'm going to has you present a patient you have recently taken care of and they ask questions after that. My interview was 5 questions in 7 minutes. Yeah! A nerve-shattering time! Almost all of their interviews average less than ten minutes.

So after gleaning all of the info I could from former/current students of the program I made out a study plan covering the things they mentioned. I wrote out answers to possible questions and reheorificed them over and over again. Whats funny is the best practice I had was when my roommate and I would toss the football around and ask each other random questions and practice our answers. Ex: What is the difference between Epi and Primacor? Why would they be used together? What are the parameters for weaning off the vent? If you see these Swan numbers what type of shock do you think the patient has? Blah, blah, blah. I could go on and on. This constant repetition of answering aloud is what got me over the fear (well, the majority of it anyway) of interviewing. So when I got in the interview and they asked a question my answer just flowed out because I had already practiced it a thousand times.

So talk to people at the program your interested in and find out what the interview comittee expects. Mine was invasive hemodynamic monitoring, vent management, and vasoactive drugs. The drugs being the big deal. Had to know them to the cellular level. And I don't mean saying "Neo acts on alpha-1 receptors." That was just the beginning. It went way deeper than that. Try www.cvphysiology.com and www.cvpharmacology.com. Physiology book by Linda Costanzo also.

To sum it up (finally), get the inside scoop on what type of questions they ask and write out your anwers to different scenarios. Have a friend throw questions out there for you to practice saying those answers aloud. Then do it again. And again. And again. After all that remember this:

Repetition is the key to mastery.

Good luck. You can do it.

MmacFN · May 12, 2006

Hey Now

That was not an interview. That was me visiting the school and learning more about the program. One individuals attitude was the problem and it wasent me.

As for the actual interviews ive done, they have been very collegiate, nice people. I have not had any bad experiences talking to any other program directors or admissions ppl.

Deepz, you may be friends with the lady who i refer to, she may be a great person from your knowledge of her. However, that dosent change how negative the interaction i had and has been, widely reported from people in the school presently, now there is a new program director.

Chill.
Despite the awful report you may have read in the McFN thread, the interviewers are actually on your side, not against you. Do not go into the process expecting it to be adverserial or overly intense. Most are quite low key -- even friendly.
Courage. And a heart. And a brain. Oh my!
Go for it.

deepz · May 12, 2006

Hey Now
That was not an interview. ........

?????

https://allnurses.com/forums/f16/had-my-interview-figured-u-guys-would-interested-p-156352.html

!!

MmacFN · May 12, 2006

Ohhh

My bad. I will accept the dunce hat for that one.:smackingf Or you may beat me with a dead fish as depicted here :trout: ... hehehe

Yes that post was my interview I had thought u meant our midwestern stuff.

The interview was actually great. The people were very nice and though it was challenging, i felt it was fair based on my experience. Again, the interviewers were a greta grp of ppl.

?????
https://allnurses.com/forums/f16/had-my-interview-figured-u-guys-would-interested-p-156352.html
!!

walec1 · May 13, 2006

Nursenary57,

THANK YOU so much for your advice. That's exactly what I was needing - a little encouragement, but some DIRECTION! THank you. I will check out those Physiology and Pharmacology sites immediately. Again, thanks alot. And hey, good luck in school. I hope to be joining you in the field soon.

Walec1

Walec1,
I understand your nervousness, especially since I just went through the process in January. I'm very fortunate that I only had to do one interview and I start school in July! The key to getting through the interview for me was to overprepare. Probably not what you wanted to here.
I talked to many people who had attended/was attending my school of choice (mtsa.edu). I learned about the type of interview that the school did and what they expected. Some of these people had interviewed at several schools and talked about the vast differences in style of interview. Some were basic meet and greets while they looked over your transcripts. The school I'm going to has you present a patient you have recently taken care of and they ask questions after that. My interview was 5 questions in 7 minutes. Yeah! A nerve-shattering time! Almost all of their interviews average less than ten minutes.
So after gleaning all of the info I could from former/current students of the program I made out a study plan covering the things they mentioned. I wrote out answers to possible questions and reheorificed them over and over again. Whats funny is the best practice I had was when my roommate and I would toss the football around and ask each other random questions and practice our answers. Ex: What is the difference between Epi and Primacor? Why would they be used together? What are the parameters for weaning off the vent? If you see these Swan numbers what type of shock do you think the patient has? Blah, blah, blah. I could go on and on. This constant repetition of answering aloud is what got me over the fear (well, the majority of it anyway) of interviewing. So when I got in the interview and they asked a question my answer just flowed out because I had already practiced it a thousand times.
So talk to people at the program your interested in and find out what the interview comittee expects. Mine was invasive hemodynamic monitoring, vent management, and vasoactive drugs. The drugs being the big deal. Had to know them to the cellular level. And I don't mean saying "Neo acts on alpha-1 receptors." That was just the beginning. It went way deeper than that. Try www.cvphysiology.com and www.cvpharmacology.com. Physiology book by Linda Costanzo also.
To sum it up (finally), get the inside scoop on what type of questions they ask and write out your anwers to different scenarios. Have a friend throw questions out there for you to practice saying those answers aloud. Then do it again. And again. And again. After all that remember this:
Repetition is the key to mastery.
Good luck. You can do it.

nursenary57 · May 15, 2006

Walec,

No problem. I'm glad to help. PM me anytime if you have any questions. If I can answer them I will. If I don't know I can come up with a pretty good lie!