difficulty of CRNA school

sedation_season · Apr 3, 2012

https://allnurses.com/certified-registered-nurse/anyone-find-crna-652961.html

CABGx4, ASN, BSN, MSN, CRNA · Apr 4, 2012

I think it's safe to say that most CRNA programs are far more difficult than med school. First, they let anyone into med school with just an mcat score. You need no experience or clinical skills, even people skills. RN's going for anesthesia have-for the most part- already proven themselves academically, clinically, and professionally. Even after all of that, we choose to advance to the next level knowing very well the difficulties we will certainly face during the next 2-3 years.

I've always liked this forum & have read it many times. I get really excited each time. If you get excited when you read it, you may be crazy enough to remain on this path!

https://allnurses.com/student-registered-nurse/day-life-srna-278092.html

KentuckyCRNA · Apr 8, 2012

That is a bold statement. Loving the arrogance CABG.

CABGx4, ASN, BSN, MSN, CRNA · Apr 9, 2012

You disagree?

KentuckyCRNA · Apr 9, 2012

Obviously. I don't feel that a 28-month master's degree can be compared to an 8-year (4-yr didactic & 4-yr clinical) medical doctorate degree. I'm proud of my degree & my current practice, but I don't feel that my education was more difficult than that of my MDA colleagues. Just out of curiosity... how long ago did you graduate from your CRNA program?

CABGx4, ASN, BSN, MSN, CRNA · Apr 9, 2012

I was comparing med school to a CRNA program; not med school, residency, and fellowship. It speaks a lot to a nurse who can learn in 2-3 yrs what mda's learn in 10. It's really apples to oranges though. And I will graduate in 2014. Thanks

up-n-atom · Apr 9, 2012

Getting into a CRNA program seems more difficult than getting into med school in my opinion. As for which is tougher to complete, I think that would be tough to figure out.

This topic reminds me a littel of entrance into my BSN program. When I applied for nursing school, entrance was based only on grades, similar to cabgx4's arguement-no clinical skills, experience or even people skills needed. The entrance standards changed after I graduated to include not only grades, but also some voluteering and RN shadowing. I don't know if this improved the candidate selection or was just another hoop to jump through.

KentuckyCRNA · Apr 10, 2012

It is definitely apples to oranges, that's why I said they can't be compared. I know several CRNAs that have a knowledge base & clinical skills on par with an average MDA, but all of them have 10+ years of CRNA practice under their belt. I have never taken the MCAT or applied to medical school- so I'll just have to take your word on the ease of being accepted to medical school versus CRNA school.*

msn10 · Apr 19, 2012

"I was comparing med school to a CRNA program; not med school, residency, and fellowship. It speaks a lot to a nurse who can learn in 2-3 yrs what mda's learn in 10. "

You don't learn the same thing, you learn anesthesia, not anesthesia AND medicine. MD's are medical docs. Not that you don't already know that, but I would agree with Kentucky - apples to oranges.

First, they let anyone into med school with just an mcat score.

In 2010, 521,876 applications were submitted to the 121 medical schools that reported entrance data to U.S. News. On average, just 8.9 percent of applicants were admitted—and at a handful of schools, the acceptance rates were drastically lower.

To the OP:

Any advanced degree can be difficult, but our CRNA students' schedule is more 'hourly' intensive than other APN clinical rotations.

studentdrtobe · Apr 19, 2012

I think it's safe to say that most CRNA programs are far more difficult than med school. First, they let anyone into med school with just an mcat score. You need no experience or clinical skills, even people skills. RN's going for anesthesia have-for the most part- already proven themselves academically, clinically, and professionally. Even after all of that, we choose to advance to the next level knowing very well the difficulties we will certainly face during the next 2-3 years.
I've always liked this forum & have read it many times. I get really excited each time. If you get excited when you read it, you may be crazy enough to remain on this path!
https://allnurses.com/student-registered-nurse/day-life-srna-278092.html

They don't let just "anyone" into med school with "just an MCAT score." You need a strong GPA, strong MCAT score (and the MCAT is generally considered the toughest entrance exam out of all the ones required for professional school), many hours of volunteering at hospitals, many hours of shadowing, leadership skills, and research is quickly becoming an unwritten requirement because of how tough it is to get into med school these days. The average student who gets accepted to med school has all of the above, plus abstracts/publications, and they have to get through rigorous interviews.

The entire process is designed to weed out the students admission committee members don't think can handle the rigors of med school.

I don't know how tough a CRNA program is, but I can assure you that med school is not easy. During the preclinical years (years 1 and 2), most of us averaged around 7-10 hours of pure studying per day, every day, including weekends. During exam weeks, we studied even more (obviously). During the clinical years (years 3 and 4), we had the same schedule as the interns did. I probably averaged around 70 hours/week in the hospital during most rotations. More than that on surgery and less on family medicine. And after we were done with our duties in the hospital, we went home and studied since we needed to read up on our patients, prep for the surgeries on the schedule for the next day, prep for answering the questions thrown at us by attendings, and most importantly, for the difficult shelf exams we had at the end of each rotation. Now, as an intern, I average 70-90 hours per week in the hospital, depending on what service I'm rotating on. Still have to spend time at home reading, which doesn't count into the hours I spend in the hospital. And this is at a program that's generally not considered a malignant one.

To put med school into perspective, I was a molecular and cellular biology major in undergrad. We covered everything I learned in 4 years of that major in the first 2.5 months of med school and we covered it in greater detail. The only thing we didn't cover during those first two months of M1 year that I had prior exposure to was immunology, which we took in the spring of M1 year.

Summary: Med school and residency are a lot tougher than you seem to think they are.

I was comparing med school to a CRNA program; not med school, residency, and fellowship. It speaks a lot to a nurse who can learn in 2-3 yrs what mda's learn in 10. It's really apples to oranges though. And I will graduate in 2014. Thanks

Med school isn't designed to put out anesthesiologists. Med school is designed to put out general practitioners of medicine. Residency is where we learn what's specific to our field of choice. So your 2-3 yrs vs. 10 yrs comparison is very flawed and absolutely an apples-to-oranges comparison. You can go through anesthesia school quickly because you focus on a narrow topic: anesthesia. That's not true for med school.

Hope this clarifies some misconceptions regarding medical training.

Zaphod, BSN, RN · Apr 22, 2012

I agree..apples and oranges. I believe it is much more difficult to become an MD than a CRNA, however with that being said I believe there are many CRNAs on par with MDAs since the time spent in anesthesia training is similar.