Honesty in the interview for those who want to be CRNA, need an ICU perspective....

[Roland]

The prevailing opinion in the CRNA section of the site seems to be that IF you reveal your intentions of applying to CRNA school in a year or two that you will significantly hurt your chances of being hired in the average ICU. I understand the reasoning, but am disturbed by the implications. Here's the thing, how can you NOT be up front, and then turn around in a year or two and ask for references for graduate school (I guess you could say that the ambition came to you during your ICU experience, but that amounts to more confabulation). I have always believed that if you are honest that things will tend to work out for the best. However, I also understand the realities of the business world (and yes medicine is a business especially to many hospital administrators). Surely, those of you have been doing this for a number of years have some considerable perspective on this issue. We won't even be RN's for another year (almost two in my case) and it's already keeping me up nights.

Also, I understand that many of you do not believe that new grads should even be working in the ICU. I won't argue the point you may infact be right. However, CRNA schools require the experience, and my wife has already been contacted by two local hospitals about working in the SICU (the jobs would pay around $25.00 per hour, but money is not the point).

[EmeraldNYL, BSN, RN]

Roland, why are you asking all of these questions on your wife's behalf? Why doesn't she get on the board and ask them herself? I'm a new grad who wants to go to CRNA school, and when asked the question about leaving in a few years for continuing ed, I simply replied "I'll work here for awhile, learn as much as I can and be the best nurse I can be, and see where it takes me". It costs a lot of money to train a new grad to work in the ICU, so they may not want to hire you if you are only going to leave in a year. No one is telling you to outright lie, but a vague answer is best. They want to know that you will contribute to the unit and be a hard worker.

[Roland]

Simply stated because I have the TIME to ask. I took a year off of clinicals to take care of my mother as she suffered with lung cancer (I am working part time, and going to school full time, but since I only sleep about four hours a night I find myself with extra time on my hands). In addition, my wife generally takes a dim view about forums such as this. She believes that if you have the time to read and post on these venues that you could probably being doing something much more productive. Besides I am "plan B" if she doesn't get accepted into CRNA school My grades are better (3.8 GPA verses 3.45) but her innate clinical abilities are far superior to mine. I do however have six years as a Navy Corpman under my belt, and if push comes to shove, I'd swim through hot lava to provide for my family. IF she does become a CRNA, I will probably still become an acute care NP, or something similiar (Heck I might even pursue my life long dream of becoming a DO, where I could actually USE some of the alternative and complementary medicine that I have read about in venues such as Life Extension magazine since I was a little boy! Knowing about things like many studies that show that patients on long term statin therapy could benefit from co-enzyme Q-10 supplementation, and not being able to do anything about it as a nurse "student nurse in my case" is frustrating. I had a cardiologist tell me last year that I was ingnorant for believing that "elevated C reactive protein levels " were an emerging risk factor for heart disease, and it about drove me nuts not to be able to debate the science with him without being considered insubordinate!). In any case my path will likely carry me into a SICU, possibly near you.