Help ~(CRNA)

dfk, RN, CRNA · Jun 7, 2009

hello, i'm a bsn nursing student, who wants to get into crna school,
i wrote the same article on pre-crna board, but i couldn't get any answers, so i'm writing here,
i have several questions for those people who have got into crna schools.
1.for next semester, i'm thinking about taking herpes virus reseach as a class this semester,
(lots of pre-med/dental students take this class, however, the professor from this research said i can take this course because i took two general chem w/ lab, biology and microbiology).
do you think it is that necessary for me to take this course? because i'm already stressed out about this class,
i'm afraid that i have to write reports every week, that i have no idea what to write,
plus this may sound lame, but i'm afraid that my advisor wouldn't like me because i"m taking such class like this that is not related to nursing,
if you don't think this would be helful what other research would you suggest?
2. other than nursing courses what classes exactly did you guys take?
such as science, did you take organic chem(not the basic one, but those organic level that pre-med studenst take), physics, biochemistry or microbiology during bsn program? what others would you suggest?
3. i'm thinking about doing several internships during every summer, what kind of internship do you think will be helpful and interesting?
4. actually i'm not american and i've lived in us for only 2 years,
i've taught myself english since i was 14(i"m 19 right now), so i do not have any problems with speaking (i've learned english from watching movies and lots of people think that i was born here, because i don't have any foreign accents)
however, i'm sort of struggling in nursing courses right now, i'm not sure it is because the way i study, or i do not understand the concepts cleary.
yet, one thing for sure is that i do study all those exam materials perfectly, but when it comes to the exam, i cannot find the answers of questions that requires thinking and thorough understanding.
could you give me some suggestions for this, how did you guys study?
thx~!

1. no

2. depends, all bsn's are different. won't matter really when applying to crna school. if you want to stand out, take grad science classes if you must.

3. won't matter if you don't. if you do, do whatever makes you happy.

4. uh, if you can't get thru bsn, you might want to reconsider crna. you'll have much more trouble if you cannot get the gist of things based on your english understanding. sorry.

dreamMaker · Jun 7, 2009

1.for next semester, i'm thinking about taking herpes virus reseach as a class this semester,

(lots of pre-med/dental students take this class, however, the professor from this research said i can take this course because i took two general chem w/ lab, biology and microbiology).

do you think it is that necessary for me to take this course?

not necessary. but, take some type of research; it can be a tough course in any event, but see if there is one that isn't as stressful and take that if you prefer.

2. other than nursing courses what classes exactly did you guys take?

such as science, did you take organic chem(not the basic one, but those organic level that pre-med studenst take), physics, biochemistry or microbiology during bsn program? what others would you suggest?

any of the courses you mention will certainly make you a stronger candidate and make you better prepared for crna school. the more of those you can take, the better.

3. i'm thinking about doing several internships during every summer, what kind of internship do you think will be helpful and interesting?

i don't think there's an internship that will specifically be helpful, so choose what's interesting to you. more important than an internship for crna purposes is making sure you arrange to shadow a crna for a day. even better, find out what type of practice crnas are doing in your city or surrounding area and try to shadow more than one crna in places where they have different duties and/or different levels of autonomy. that way you can get a better sense of what we do, and you will be able to speak intelligently about the diversity of practice crnas engage in.

4. actually i'm not american and i've lived in us for only 2 years,

i've taught myself english since i was 14(i"m 19 right now), so i do not have any problems with speaking (i've learned english from watching movies and lots of people think that i was born here, because i don't have any foreign accents)

however, i'm sort of struggling in nursing courses right now, i'm not sure it is because the way i study, or i do not understand the concepts cleary.

yet, one thing for sure is that i do study all those exam materials perfectly, but when it comes to the exam, i cannot find the answers of questions that requires thinking and thorough understanding.

could you give me some suggestions for this, how did you guys study?

if you're struggling, make sure you are taking the least amount of courses possible per semester. fewer classes will make it easier to concentrate on the classes you are taking and maybe perform better. your intelligence is probably sufficient to do well, but the language issue means that you need extra time to absorb and understand the material. also, take a ton of practice nclex exams. that will help you get more used to the weird language of exam questions. sometimes you probably have the requisite knowledge but get tripped up by tricky language on the exam. doing practice questions and reviewing the ones you miss will help you get used to that language. that's what you need to do for now. if you end up going to anesthesia school, bear in mind that the above advice will no longer apply, because you will have little control over your schedule and you will have no time for practice questions, at least during the first year of the program. so practice as much as you can now to start training your mind for exam-taking and hopefully you'll be better equipped by the time you go to crna school. i did have several classmates who had language barriers similar to yours when i was in crna school. they did struggle a little more than the rest of us, but they made it through. so did one native speaker who had a learning disability but enough native intelligence and determination to make it through.

good luck,

hugh

thx~!

yiruma · Jun 7, 2009

1.for next semester, i'm thinking about taking herpes virus reseach as a class this semester,
(lots of pre-med/dental students take this class, however, the professor from this research said i can take this course because i took two general chem w/ lab, biology and microbiology).
do you think it is that necessary for me to take this course?
not necessary. but, take some type of research; it can be a tough course in any event, but see if there is one that isn't as stressful and take that if you prefer.
2. other than nursing courses what classes exactly did you guys take?
such as science, did you take organic chem(not the basic one, but those organic level that pre-med studenst take), physics, biochemistry or microbiology during bsn program? what others would you suggest?
any of the courses you mention will certainly make you a stronger candidate and make you better prepared for crna school. the more of those you can take, the better.
3. i'm thinking about doing several internships during every summer, what kind of internship do you think will be helpful and interesting?
i don't think there's an internship that will specifically be helpful, so choose what's interesting to you. more important than an internship for crna purposes is making sure you arrange to shadow a crna for a day. even better, find out what type of practice crnas are doing in your city or surrounding area and try to shadow more than one crna in places where they have different duties and/or different levels of autonomy. that way you can get a better sense of what we do, and you will be able to speak intelligently about the diversity of practice crnas engage in.
4. actually i'm not american and i've lived in us for only 2 years,
i've taught myself english since i was 14(i"m 19 right now), so i do not have any problems with speaking (i've learned english from watching movies and lots of people think that i was born here, because i don't have any foreign accents)
however, i'm sort of struggling in nursing courses right now, i'm not sure it is because the way i study, or i do not understand the concepts cleary.
yet, one thing for sure is that i do study all those exam materials perfectly, but when it comes to the exam, i cannot find the answers of questions that requires thinking and thorough understanding.
could you give me some suggestions for this, how did you guys study?
if you're struggling, make sure you are taking the least amount of courses possible per semester. fewer classes will make it easier to concentrate on the classes you are taking and maybe perform better. your intelligence is probably sufficient to do well, but the language issue means that you need extra time to absorb and understand the material. also, take a ton of practice nclex exams. that will help you get more used to the weird language of exam questions. sometimes you probably have the requisite knowledge but get tripped up by tricky language on the exam. doing practice questions and reviewing the ones you miss will help you get used to that language. that's what you need to do for now. if you end up going to anesthesia school, bear in mind that the above advice will no longer apply, because you will have little control over your schedule and you will have no time for practice questions, at least during the first year of the program. so practice as much as you can now to start training your mind for exam-taking and hopefully you'll be better equipped by the time you go to crna school. i did have several classmates who had language barriers similar to yours when i was in crna school. they did struggle a little more than the rest of us, but they made it through. so did one native speaker who had a learning disability but enough native intelligence and determination to make it through.
good luck,
hugh
thx~!

thank you so much "dreammaker"~! that was really helpful :loveya: