Give me the low down on Clinical and time expectations

CRNA, DNSc · Oct 22, 2007

Hi all, I am real old and am trying to make up my mind whether to apply to CRNA school or go the NP route. At 55 I am in pretty darn good shape but I haven't a clue what to expect time wise for clinicals while in the program. It sounds on the Madison website that it might be 60 hours per week. I can't figure out if this is 60 hours including class room time or if it is 60 hours of strictly clinicals then classroom time on top of that. Will someone please clue me in? I have no doubt my brain can do the work but not if the body won't do it's share. So give me the real view of CRNA school please. Thanks, MAHAGE, RN

The nearby program faculty indicate that you can expect to spend 60-80 per week between classes, clinical and studying. Clinical days usually start about 5:30-6:00am depending on the complexity of cases- and after finishing cases about 4pm you will still have to see your patients from the previous day and those for tomorrow's cases. Then go home and look up information on tomorrow's cases and prepare care plans. Sometimes your clinical time is on afternoons/midnights and weekends for unscheduled cases, trauma, and OB. Anesthesia school is tough and demanding both mentally and physically, the stress level is very high- only you can make a decision but include such things as financial stress as you will not be able to work much during school. Also include in your decisionmaking that it is likely that you may have to spend one or more years just preparing to apply- repeating old credits, updating certifications and ICU experience, and have no guarentee of admissions- realistically that even if you are admitted you may be approaching 60 years during or shortly after graduation. You might want to consider that some nurse practitioner programs can be done part-time, get admitted sooner, and you may be able to complete one within 3 years with considerably less wear and tear on yourself and significant others. Good Luck with your decision!

piper_for_hire · Oct 22, 2007

The 60 hours will likely include class time, clinical time and estimated study time. My school gave me an estimate like that and every semester ran between 50-60 hours a week. The majority of the time is the estimated study time and it seems like a pretty good estimate because all I seem to do is study!

-S

Rage, RN · Oct 23, 2007

If I can piggy back on this (I'm 52 now and by the time I finish my ICU time I'll be 55), I checked with the MAYO clinic since thats where I want to go for CRNA school. They had no problem with the age. I think that since so many CRNAs participate in CRNA groups for subcontract, after 10 years as CRNA I would continue by entering the management of the group since I have already have 15 years experience as a VP. Also the VP experience has made me pretty accustomed to stressors.

What is the general forums opinion of this strategy? Reasonable or not?