CRNA Job Shadowing in Oregon

[bgil]

Does anyone know of a hospital or etc. that would allow a high schooler shadow a CRNA? Im a senior is high school right now and still undecided about my major, CRNA sounds like a great job for me but I'd really like to job shadow one before I start majoring in nursing

[jmelinte]

I believe all the Legacy hospitals use primarily CRNAs in their ORs. The best way to go about it is to just call the general hospital line and have them transfer you to the main OR desk or to the Short Stay unit. They should be able to then direct you to the right person to talk to. Kaiser employs them too, but I'm not sure how extensively. If you're based in the Portland area, it shouldn't be too tough to find a place to shadow. You may also want to spend some significant amount of time shadowing some nurses, though, as you will have to work in bedside nursing for a few years (possibly in a couple of different specialties if you don't end up in critical care right out of nursing school) before applying to CRNA school. If you don't enjoy that work enough to really devote yourself to it in preparation for a nurse anesthesia program, you may have a hard time making the transition.