CRNA school in 4 years: Realistic goal?

jj224 · Sep 10, 2016

Retake some classes and get your GPA up

mrdearmas · Sep 11, 2016

GPA will be a big factor. Some school require a lot of chem courses and physics. Start taking those and get your GPA up, which will also give you a good science GPA. CCRN is a great thing to have when you apply, but it will probably be over your head without any critical experience. Go to your ICU and start making friends. Talk to the director and let him or her know that you want to come there as soon as possible, and you are willing to work for it. I bet that will be your quickest route in. I don't know how your hospital is, some have ICU training programs that you have to go through if you come from the floor. If not, see if the director will put you on a 4-6 month preceptorship and train you to be there. Your nursing school having a CRNA program is probably a big advantage. I would assume they would give alumni preferential treatment? Get your ACLS and PALS right away. The ACLS is required for the ICU, most also require PALS. You can study those and pass them easily I am sure. Get your basic arrhythmia cert too. This will help you in the ICU. Good luck!!

CardiacDork, MSN, RN · Sep 12, 2016

First priority is to land an ICU job. Don't even bother studying for the CCRN exam until you are at least on orientation for an ICU position. Work on this first, as zero ICU experience is a definite impasse for you being accepted into CRNA school. Get the ICU job!

As as far as GPA, you could retake courses and maybe take some graduate level courses. Score awesome on the GRE. Join committees at your hospital.

Show the CRNA school you are truly passionate about learning and academia.

Some examples of things I'm doing/part of are:

-ICU Leadership committee

-Skin integrity committee

-Cardiovascular wellness committee

-Ive also begun to tutor nursing students. I tutor them in medsurg, pharmacology, and critical care adult.

-In addition I'm studying for my CCRN and calculated I'll be eligible to sit for my exam in April, I'll sign up at once.

-My colleague from nursing school is highly involved with medical trips to Costa Rica. Come summer 2017, I will be taking a trip with her.

I believe displaying your commitment to learning and excellence is one the strongest appeals to a CRNA school. There are many candidates with high GPAs and many years of experience. Make yourself stand OUT!

Good luck and I wish you well! Hope all our aspirations are realized.

kar5349 · Sep 19, 2016

Hi! I will tell you my personal experience with the road to CRNA school. I went back to get my BSN as a second degree, knowing CRNA was my end game. I got a job in an ICU right out of school. The program I was interested in said that they don't interview people unless you've had a year experience. At this point in my research, I only had about 3 months experience off of orientation. But, I made some phone calls, met with the director of anesthesia at my hospital (who coordinates rotations with this particular school), I emailed the powers-that-be, and got an interview and ultimately got accepted this past summer to start in the Fall of 2018. Now, that is a long way away, but I'm happy with what I got.

I believe the things that helped me were: 1. my GPA, the director was not worried about my "lack" of experience because my GPA showed that I'm a good student. Also, by the time the program starts I will have over 2 years ICU experience, and that is their minimum requirement. I did press him pretty thoroughly, saying that I don't want my lack of experience to hurt me. He told me that he himself only had 1-2 years experience before he went back for CRNA, and he had a wonderful career. Can having more experience hurt you? Absolutely not! But my point is if the school says 1-2 years is the minimum requirement, trust it. Could school be a bit more difficult if you're on the lower end of the spectrum? Probably. But if the directors of the CRNA program all were ok with admitting me with ~2 years experience by the time I start, I had to trust them.

2. My persistence. I emailed, made phone calls, followed up, arranged meetings, etc. I think that this helped the powers-that-be see that I was motivated and serious about this as a career.

3. Being in the "right" ICU. My interviewers were pleased that I was in a cardiothoracic ICU. All ICU experience is valuable and will help you get there, but for whatever reason my interviewers were very happy thats the one I landed in. Again, just my personal experience.

4. Luck. I happened to work at a hospital that coordinated with this school, and the stars aligned in various other situations as well.

My whole point? I know that my experience is out of the norm, and I'm still 2 years away from actually starting school. BUT, if you really want it that badly, you can make it happen. Get to an ICU asap, take extra classes to get your GPA up if you need to, and be persistent and motivated.

You did ask if there are certain things you should study, my advice as of now would be pharm. During my interview they asked a lot of questions about vasoactive drugs, sedation, etc. It might be hard because right now you don't use them on medsurg, but drugs like epi, neo, vaso, levo, amio, milrinone, propofol, precedex, blah blah blah. It would be helpful to start writing each new drug down, write its mechanism of action (in words that you understand!!!). If you say "Neo is an alpha agonist", you might read that 20 times and not have it click. But if you say "Neo stimulates alpha receptors, which are located in the arterial bed, causing the arteries to tighten up, thus increasing BP", then you might be more likely to connect the dots. Write what the drugs are commonly used for, and in what dosages. I have a little notebook that I have lots of drugs written down in, in my own words. If I forget/have down time, I read it over again just to familiarize myself all over again.

Sorry this is long, but I know what its like to be in your shoes so I thought I'd offer my own experience. My advice may work for you, or it may not. 4-5 years seems like a long way away, but that time will pass anyway, so keep doing things to work towards that goal!

acerbia · Sep 24, 2016

Thank you all for your advice! This week I am going to shadow a CRNA friend of mine and get some tips from her, so I'm definitely excited for that.

I would like to get a job in ICU as soon as possible, but with my limited floor experience, I'm not sure if I'm ready for that yet. I'm having difficulty juggling med pass, families, post-op care, etc. for 5-6 patients. Granted I work nights, so it is not typically as hectic as days, but I'm not sure if I'm in a place to transition to ICU yet. Plus, my floor experience totals only 2 months, and that's probably not long enough. I know most ICUs require 1 year med/surg (at least).

I don't mind spending extra time getting the "right" experience so I can be successful. I know that ICU can be quite different from med-surg/post-op, and if I am having a hard time juggling 6 patients now, how will I be able to take care of 1 or 2 with multiple complex issues? I've heard from other nurses that have had a hard time in med-surg felt more comfortable with ICU. Maybe I'm one of those people? But I digress.

I will definitely review meds, contact my alma mater, and look into re-taking classes. I'm not happy about that, but I know it will be worth it in the end. After all, I've already taken the classes so I know what to expect. I plan on only taking one at a time, and if I'm giving myself a 4 year goal, I'm sure that will be sufficient. I digress again!

Thanks again for the support and advice, I really appreciate it :) I am always willing to learn more and I am very receptive to suggestions (and maybe some harsh truths when necessary!)

RicRock, MSN, CRNA · Sep 28, 2016

I'll just add that experience in larger ICUs looks a bit better than ICUs at smaller facilities. I believe that I was accepted over others due to my experience in a larger trauma unit.

Also, persistence does pay! Show you are motivated.