Crna School Interview Help?

CC NRSE · Jun 7, 2007

It really just depends on the school. The best thing is to try and find someone attending that school or someone who has interviewed there. Most of the school want to know your skill level and how you will pay for it. Some schools have a panel of people conducting the interview others will just have one or two. There is a forum web-site much like this one but I don't know the name right off. You might do a search and see if you can find it. Good luck!! :-)

wanttobeacrna · Jun 7, 2007

My interview is on June 12th, thanks for asking...all I can do now is hope and make it there on time. I got this message earlier about the interviews and what to expect and it is pretty much on the money with questions that I was asked during my interviews. Couple of questions that I was asked was the oxy-hemoglobin dissociation curve, what do balloon pumps do and how are they benificial for heart patients, and why don't you given beta blockers to asthmatic patient's?? Whatever you do try to answer completely and try not to freeze or hesitate with your answers. Did you say do have an interview somewhere?? If you do best of luck!! Here is a copy of some of the questions.Where are you interviewing? I have a study guide that I found pretty handy to use for CRNA interviews. Here are a few questions that were asked at the 3 interviews i attended.

-Describe dif. b/t 1st, 2nd degreee type 1 and 2 and 3rd degreee hrt blcks.

-Which ones will atropine work on

-Know strips - afib, v tach/fib blcks and treatments.

-Interpret ABG and give treatment eg. CO2 55, PH 7.20, Po2 wnl, HCO3 wnl, bicarb wnl or slightly elevated so increase rate to 12 from 10 ect.

-Know what your vasoactive drips, what they do, how they work, side effects, when to use.

-know acls protocols ect.

-Formula for SVR i missed this one

-Do you use atropine on pt with hrt Transplant - no b/c hrt denervated so pace, then why can HR increase with exersize - epi released from adrenal medulla not dependent on nerves.

others:

-Why CRNA, why get out of bedside nursing- 2 words Poo poo LOL

-what can you bring to the table to improve program, profession ect.

-How your going to pay for school - loans ect.

-Be honest: They may ask explain a mistake you once made and what you learned from it.

-Last time you had confrontation with MD and how you smoothed it over

-What you do for fun or to relieve stress, what are your hobbies

other tips that will impress interview board.

-be farmiliar with current CRNA/MDA/AA political issues, search on this board, AANA.com or studentdoctor.net Anesthesia forum, at least bring your farmiliararity with this up, they all ate this up

-Talk about any sedation/paralytics/pain med infusions you use in ICU eg. we may use nimbex, fent, ativan drips to sedate, talk about this but know it well because they will pimp you off of this.

-Talk up your experience as much as possible even if it's not the best.

- If you havent taken CCRN register for exam now and tell them you will take it asap when get paper work back, its not a bad test if you study.

-Talk about any epidural experience you have in ICU if any, we use them for thoracotomys and AAA's/Taaa's and titrate them to SE /pain mgmt, they will like that you have used them if you have

-My grades were not great before nursing school but improved once in nursing school so you may have to explain

The last and most important thing is be very CONFIDENT. CONFIDENCE i believe is the key. Yes sir/mam if the people are way older than you as in my case. Always Eye contact, firm hand shake, thank you at end.

- If you dont know the answere to a clinical question just say I'm not sure, and maybe say if you are farmiliar with it but not sure exact answer, thats what they want you to say. They dont want you to guess or BS.

- of course you will be nervous but try to chill, be as prepared as possible and that will decrease your nervousness

-have somewhat of an opening statment prepared talking up your strengths such as grades, GRE, clinical exp, professional org, or extra curriculars you were involved in in past.

-have a list of questions to ask them such as:

Support for students?

Clinical Sites?

Minimun or average Epidurals, aline, Cent line placements by last grad class?

Pass rates on cert exam?

Artrition rates?

SIM labs?

Average # OR hours last grad classes had?

Average # peds/thoracic cases grad classes had?

Competition with residents or AA students for cases if affilated with other programs?

good luck, email me with any questions or post here.

spideyunit · Jun 7, 2007

thanks a ton, some of that i knew, some i didnt.. it was all extremely helpful. so far i have 1 interview at eastern carolina on june 19.. it is my first one so we'll see how it goes.

japaho41 · Jun 8, 2007

This a good list to prepare yourself, I wouldn't think that you would be heavily drilled upon your depth of clinical knowledge to this extent. Think of the unit you work in and put yourself with a complex patient and think of scenarios that could possibly happen with that patient and what your actions will be. Whenever you are asked a question that does not pertain to your experience as in they ask a question about an open heart pt and you worked in Neuro, I think that it would be fair to say that you don't have exp. in that area, don't attempt to fumble your way through something you don't have a clue on what to do. Seek clairification if you don't understand and hopefully they will guide you to what they are looking to ascertain from you.

Answer everything w/ confidence, and yes always make eye contact with the person that asked the question as well as the others at the table. You almost want to take command of the table when you are speaking, don't hold back this interview is all about you. The worst thing you want to do is to walk out and say I wish I would have said.....you had your chance.

-Also whatever program you are interviewing at be able to answer why this program (be extremely knowledgable about what you are talking about). Why this program, be able to differentiate between the programs, know what you are talking about because the director knows there program about is well as they may know the one that is down the street.

Take a deep breath before you answer each question, try to relax (they know that everyone is nervous).

lifeLONGstudent · Jul 12, 2007

good info - am just subscribing to this thread

lifeLONGstudent

mnnurs4u · Dec 29, 2007

Is there anyone out there who has interviewed or will be interviewing at Minneapolis School of Anesth? I have my interview at the end of January. I've been a nurse for 15 yrs, worked SICU for 8 yrs and have also been a clinical instructor. BUT, I'm really nervous about the clinical questions. I work in a mostly open heart/thoracic unit, but to be drilled on your knowledge, now that's intimidating. I never thought about studying for an interview before!!! Any more advice is appreciated...

sleepergirl · Feb 18, 2008

bump bump

CVICU_RN · Oct 28, 2008

Holy God, that is intimidating. I've talked to several nurses that used to work with me in the CVICU and are now in CRNA school and none of them had those specific questions about heart blocks, EKG interpretation, interventions for abnormal blood gases, etc. Wow, that would certainly be a nightmare if you weren't prepared to answer a question like that! Ha! Although, you SHOULD know the answer if you're on the ball.

simrope · Dec 10, 2008

I have been to only one interview so far at Excela to begin 2009. It was a panel interview. Before the interview starts you meet with a current SRNA in the program, the student is very friendly they try to get you to relax. the panel was the assistant director and several CRNA's, they really try to make you feel comfortable. There is also a short test, it was general in nature more like med surgical. Hope this helps.

YupYup · Dec 15, 2008

The secret is to be proactive and SELL yourself. Conclude your interview by summarizing WHY they should accept you.

What have you done to make yourself a strong candidate?

What do you bring to the program?

What do you bring to the future of the profession?

CVICU_RN · Dec 16, 2008

You know, those questions are really great and all...but for someone who is applying to the program and knows basically nothing about Anesthesia yet, how can they say what they could bring to the profession? Trust me, i'd LOVE to be able to answer those questions but i don't realistically think i'd have an answer for it.