CRNA or med school

yesrun, MSN, RN · Nov 20, 2020

I am not a CRNA (yet), however work in a large Level 1 trauma center teaching hospital CVICU. I have 1:1 most days, 2:1 with lower acuity. My coworkers are phenomenal, hard working, intelligent people. We have one LNA (tech) on my unit. Management is kind and cares about us. The training we receive is definitely sufficient.

So here's the thing:

1. You sound like you work in an awful ICU/hospital system. Get a new job and see if you like it more. Your complaints sound more like a specific location/job issue rather than an actual issue with the field of ICU nursing. I do not want to be an ICU nurse for the rest of my life. I NEED to be a CRNA, otherwise I will not be fulfilled in my career. That doesn't mean that I hate my job, though.

2. CRNA is NOT the same job as being an ICU RN. While the experience you gain and the skills you develop in the ICU are necessary building blocks for being a successful CRNA, it is definitely not the same job. I'd suggest shadowing a few different CRNAs in different settings to get a feel for the job, which will tell you whether or not you'd like that as a career.

3. Being a physician is not the same as being a CRNA. You asked if you should go to a primary osteopathic school. Do you think you'd be happy doing primary care, or any other specialty as a physician for that matter? Have you considered the length of time to complete this training, not to mention the prerequisites required? If you have a degree in nursing, you will still need to take many prereqs and take the MCAT to apply for medical school, followed by four more years of schooling and then three to five years of residency. For you, CRNA school could be right around the corner, especially with your GPA and current ICU experience. Most schools require only 1 year of experience at the time of application, so you may be able to achieve admission sooner than you think. If you are having thoughts on medical school, shadow a physician and have a conversation with your university's prehealth counselor.

Aside from whether or not folks like their jobs as CRNAs or ICU RNs, the questions you are asking really can only be answered by you, with a little bit of soul searching and shadowing.

Best of luck!

guest874748 · Nov 20, 2020

CRNA. Osteopathic programs (DO) have the same curriculum as Allopathic programs (MD) with the addition of about 20 more credit hours (these are kind of like a chiropractic education). Medical school requires calculus, calculus based physics for 2 semesters, organic Chemistry with labs for 2 semesters and a 300 level statistics class. So you do all this and pass the MCAT, get into a program. From there you'll do 2 years of coursework (sit for usmle 1) and 2 years of hospital clinical work (sit for usmle 2). But it doesn't end there! After graduating you apply for a residency. Nobody wants primary care or internal medicine and if you are a US grad you'll probably want a R.O.A.D (radiology, ophthalmology, anesthesiology, dermatology) - these are the sought after residencies. Regardless of what residency you chose, these are a minimum of 3 years (I believe the family practice is actually 4 now). A lot of states will let you practice with just one year of residency in any specialty, but no hospitals will allow you to practice until you are 'board certified' which requires completing the entire residency or even grant you hospital privileges. Liability insurers require hospital privileges to perform in-office procedures with the potential of an emergency (vascular ablation, lasik, eyelid surgery, tumor removal) so completing a full residency isn't really an option. So a year and a half for medical school prereqs, 4 years in medical school, 3-4 years of working 80 hours a week for $40,000 a year with $200,000 in student loans.

Or

A RN to MSN program for 3 years and $45,000 in debt with a starting salary of $140,000/year.

I would only do the medical school route if you plan on going into the high paying specialties. To go into primary care and make $20,000 more a year than a NP after all that work would make me really salty tbh

If I were you I'd definitely do the CRNA route

ISTJ nurse · Nov 21, 2020

Thank you for your detailed insight into both professions. I appreciate the different perspectives. I did not consider how long residency would be for primary care and the pay afterwards would not be worth the extra education.

After reading both posts, I think I will apply to a few CVICUs and plan on applying to CRNA this coming fall.

Thank you for the detailed pro/cons analysis of both fields. You guys are awesome!