Help me choose between CRNA and a CRNP

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Specializes in CARDIOVASCULAR.

I am a new grad at the ripe age of 34. I am married and have a 3yo girl. At this stage of life entering a 2nd career I am focused on creating opportunities for my family like retirement for my wife and I while providing a great education for my child. I am not afraid of anything except getting stale in one area. So with that information tell me what you would/did do and how you funded the journey to your goal. Any information is greatly appreciated. If you have some information you do nit feel comfortable sharing openly please inbox me. Thanks everyone.

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I myself am a 34 year old graduate (17 days), and this is my 2nd career. I think it all depends on what you like to do. You likely know that you must spend a few years in the ICU to be accepted into CRNA school, but won't need quite that much requirement of specialization for CRNP. Personally, there is nothing I want to do more than be an RNFA in surgery, and hope to find work in the OR after graduation.

Good luck. Bother are great career fields and will provide stability.

Steve

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Specializes in CARDIOVASCULAR.

Thank you Steve. I like both routes. I am waiting on some local agencies to get me connected with someone to shadow them a day or two a week to let me see day to day life of both roles.

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NP offers a lot of options... psych, adult, peds, acute care (adult or peds), women's health, family, etc. What type of setting do you want to work in?

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Hi, I have a question...

how can I apply or ask permissions if I wish to shadow a nurse in a desired Unit?

and do hospitals really hire New Grads? or they just have to start off at a LTC facility?

thanks..

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Specializes in CARDIOVASCULAR.

I am a people person so I am torn between confining myself to the OR and occasionally talking to pts and being a NP and missing out on the OR. As far as shadowing I contacted the HR at local facilities large and small to let them know what I was interested in and they placed me in touch with employees.

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Specializes in CARDIOVASCULAR.

Also I wonder what type of lending agency can offer loans for living expenses if I choose CRNA.......

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Specializes in med-tele/ER.
Hi, I have a question...

how can I apply or ask permissions if I wish to shadow a nurse in a desired Unit?

and do hospitals really hire New Grads? or they just have to start off at a LTC facility?

thanks..

Macann may want to start a different thread relevant to your question or clarify how your question pertains to this thread. It sounds like your question is more for an RN job rather then APRN job. Hospitals hire new grads all the time.

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Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.

Hi, I have a question...

how can I apply or ask permissions if I wish to shadow a nurse in a desired Unit?

and do hospitals really hire New Grads? or they just have to start off at a LTC facility?

*** Yes hospitals hire new grads. Lots of the more advanced hospital even hire new grads directly into untils like ICU, ER, PICU and other high intensity areas.

I suggest that if at all possible new grads work in a hospital, not LTC. In LTC you are usually all alone with 20-30 patients. In a hospital you will work side by side with more experienced RNs who can teach and mentor you.

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Hi, I have a question...

how can I apply or ask permissions if I wish to shadow a nurse in a desired Unit?

and do hospitals really hire New Grads? or they just have to start off at a LTC facility?

thanks..

When I graduated from an ADN program, I was hired directly into a busy ICU with a preceptor. It gave me the opportunity to have full responsibility for the patients, with less patient load (usually no more than 2-3 patients) I learned from very experienced staff members some things I would never learn on a med/surg unit. I had been a respiratory therapy technician with ICU experience prior to going to nursing school, which may have given me some advantage as far as understanding vent patients, trach suctions, etc. I continued to work as an ICU nurse throughout most of my nursing career, eventually working in PACU, Day surgery, and Pre-op.

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For me, after the first four or five operations in the OR, I would die of boredom......YAWN

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A few years ago a fellow nurse told me he was enrolled in a CNRA program. HE's a REALLY smart guy who cruised through college and nursing school. The first CNRA lecture he got he was told to "give up his life for the next 2 years". He was told the program would demand so much of his time that working a job was out of the question. Family life, hobbies etc would be reduced to a minimum. School and studying is all he would have time for. My friend thought thought his instructor was being overly dramatic. It turns out he was being honest. My fellow nurse lasted 3 months before quitting. He says the CNRA program was hardest thing he has ever attempted.

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