CRNA vs. Perfusionist

Nursing Students SRNA

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Hi everyone,

I hope I'm putting this in the correct spot. I am still a nursing student, and I am doing some very basic research/exploration on different paths to take with my degree. I don't have a set path in mind, so I'm just asking out of curiosity for the sake of brainstorming. I know the basics of what CRNAs do and what perfusionists do, but does anyone have any opinion or additional info about these two specialties? I guess I'm just curious about the schooling (length of it, difficulty, pre-reqs, etc.), the responsibility, the salary (not that important to me but just thought I'd ask), workload, satisfaction....does anyone have any experience with being a perfusionist? They seem more elusive than CRNAs. ? I'd love to hear anyone's take. Sorry this is sort of vague. Thank you in advance for your time.

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Specializes in ACNP-BC, Adult Critical Care, Cardiology.

Perfusion is a good career in my opinion. It's definitely under the radar as far as a career option - very few programs in the US with small class size in most programs. The role goes beyond running the Cardio-Pulmonary Bypass machine in the OR, some work in Extra-Corporeal Life Support centers and provide expertise on ECMO use at the bedside. The pay is lower than CRNA. I found that they have a forum here: http://www.perfusion.com/perfusion/education.html#

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I am currently in perfusion school, and will be starting CRNA school in the spring so I can give you some insight into what it takes to get into both. Perfusion programs are considerably easier to get into than CRNA programs mainly because it's a little known profession and there are far fewer applicants. There are about 25 perfusion programs and 110ish CRNA programs nation wide. The perfusion program I'm in is 18mo and pre-reqs are a bachelors degree, 9 hours of chem including organic and biochem, 5 hours of pre-calc mathmatics, 4 hours of physics, and 7 hours of A+P. You don't need any prior clinical experience, but I can tell you my experience as an ICU nurse and ECMO specialist put me way ahead of everyone else in my class.

CRNA school requires a BSN or bachelors with an ADN. Minimum 1 year ICU experience (few get in with only 1 year), biostats, physics, college level math class, organic/bio chem...programs nation wide are in the process of switching to the DNP plan of study and vary in length from 24-36mo.

I enjoy perfusion school. It's challenging but I've decided to switch to CRNA for a few reasons: 1 it's what I have always wanted to do and the reason I got into nursing in the first place. 2 there are about 3500 perfusionists in the US compared to 40000ish CRNAs way easier to find a job or change jobs. 3 CRNA's are LIP's perfusionists are not. 4 I see myself getting bored after 5 years or so. 5 Perfusionists starting salary 80000ish CRNA 130000ish.

Perfusion is a great career, and it is what I would be doing with my life had I not been accepted into CRNA this year. If you are interested in perfusion try and set up a time to shadow one. All of the perfusionists I know are smart, easy going, nice guys. If you have any other questions let me know.

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may i ask which crna school you're in. i'm a nicu rn and am very interested in pursuing a CRNA career.

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\ said:
may I ask which crna school you're in. I'm a nicu RN and am very interested in pursuing a CRNA career.

Just a heads up, have you thought of going into a surgical or cvicu? Just asking because if you want to pursue CRNA, they will only take adult ICU exp no nicu exp. if you're serious about applying I would find an adult unit in your hospital to get into.

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Specializes in critcal care, CRNA.
\ said:

Just a heads up, have you thought of going into a surgical or cvicu? Just asking because if you want to pursue CRNA, they will only take adult ICU exp no nicu exp. if you're serious about applying I would find an adult unit in your hospital to get into.

Schools decide what experience they take. Critical care is the requirement. I attend school with a PICU and NICU nurse. Some places also allow ER.

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\ said:

Schools decide what experience they take. Critical care is the requirement. I attend school with a PICU and NICU nurse. Some places also allow ER.

Hmmmm, well that's good news then. Most schools that I've researched as well as some websites I've looked up said most schools will only accept adult ICUs. Thanks for the heads up

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morificeko said:
Schools decide what experience they take. Critical care is the requirement. I attend school with a PICU and NICU nurse. Some places also allow ER.

may I ask what school you're attending?

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piratenurse0226 said:
Hmmmm, well that's good news then. Most schools that I've researched as well as some websites I've looked up said most schools will only accept adult ICUs. Thanks for the heads up

You're correct in that many schools will only accept adult ICU's. I'm looking at a school in northern california (I'm working in socal at the moment) that takes NICU exp. I don't see why schools such as Kaiser/CSUF and others don't acknowledge NICU as critical care experience. Ridiculous, in my opinion.

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\ said:

You're correct in that many schools will only accept adult ICU's. I'm looking at a school in northern california (I'm working in socal at the moment) that takes NICU exp. I don't see why schools such as Kaiser/CSUF and others don't acknowledge NICU as critical care experience. Ridiculous, in my opinion.

I'll agree with you too. ICU is ICU, you need to do more drug calculations is seems for pediatrics/neonates than adults anyway. Best of luck!

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I found this site on google. It lists schools, costs, etc. I did find the tuition listed to be inacurate. Perfusion Training Programs

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bdoubleu said:
You're correct in that many schools will only accept adult ICU's. I'm looking at a school in northern california (I'm working in socal at the moment) that takes NICU exp. I don't see why schools such as Kaiser/CSUF and others don't acknowledge NICU as critical care experience. Ridiculous, in my opinion.

It's not so much the drug calculations, but the experience of co-morbidities you run into with adults and older adults that affect your anesthesia delivery plan. Yes peds & adults are two totally different worlds, but you simply don't run into comorbidities in kids like you do with adults, & the proportion of adult cases is much higher than peds. Some schools will take NICU experience, I think there are 2 NICU nurses and 1 PICU nurse in the class before me, and they are doing fine. But there was another post on here or over at *allnurses.com CRNA forum* about a peds RN SRNA who kinda froze when having an issue with an adult patient with multiple co-morbidities. She ended up doing fine, but there was def a lot more she had to learn, simply because she had never been exposed to it. I'm not saying NICU exp isn't good or valuable, just giving you an idea of why some schools may not consider it as pre-admission exp.

Hope that helps and good luck!

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