Hope for all the people trying to get into anesthesia

Nursing Students SRNA

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I have been a CRNA for 6 years and recently posted on this board about an extraneous inquiry from becoming a CRNA. However, I am pretty annoyed. All these threads have SRNA's and CRNA's acting like they're "holy-art-though" and shooting peoples dreams down. I got into this career when I was 30 years old and knew this is exactly what I wanted to do from day 1. No, I did not like med surge or CVICU nursing. Guess what, I HATED nursing school. I wouldn't accept that was what I had to for my whole life. I had a passion for anesthesia from day 1. I was too old to do med school so had to do the nursing hoop. Come hell or high water I was going to become my passion. I was able to get in with 1 year of experience and excelled in the program I was admitted. To all those who have this as a dream, go for it. Don't let these people discourage you.

If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask. I'll give you the unvarnished truth.

Cheers!

I would do CRNA because A. It's interesting and directly compatible with medicine's anesthesiology specialty so you are on the same level with docs more so than NPs IMHO. B. Patients don't usually talk 3. You make bank. Any other reasons?

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Specializes in CRNA, Finally retired.
I would do CRNA because A. It's interesting and directly compatible with medicine's anesthesiology specialty so you are on the same level with docs more so than NPs IMHO. B. Patients don't usually talk 3. You make bank. Any other reasons?

This is so wrong it's unrightable. No, CRNA's have no more autonomy than NP's. Everything differs state to state. We do a lot of sedations and sometimes need to talk and listen to patients - so you're out to lunch on that one, too. You earn every penny - from dealing with arrogant MDA's to working 24 hour shifts, never quite getting the vacation weeks you want.

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This is so wrong it's unrightable. No, CRNA's have no more autonomy than NP's. Everything differs state to state. We do a lot of sedations and sometimes need to talk and listen to patients - so you're out to lunch on that one, too. You earn every penny - from dealing with arrogant MDA's to working 24 hour shifts, never quite getting the vacation weeks you want.

Obviously we are in different states and practices because here they do whatever they want. I was saying CRNA education is similar to MDs in anesthesiology (especially in the Army program). You want to compare a FNP's education to an internist/FP MD? Yeah that's a complete joke. I can line up the curriculum right now and show you the gigantic discrepancy. At least CRNAs have similar pre reqs to MD and a curriculum that is actually viable for advanced care right out of the gate.

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It is true that in nursing there seems to be a stigma against wanting to strive for the best right in the beginning. No one looks down on someone who applies to an undergraduate biology program for the sole purpose of being a physician, they don't tell them that they need to want to be a biologist first. It's accepted that the biology degree is nothing more than a stepping stone to what that person really wants to do.

Nursing should be the same, there are many people who receive a BSN for the sole purpose of "checking the box" for graduate school. There's nothing wrong with knowing you want to be an NP/CRNA right out of the gate. RNs and APRNs are very different beasts and there are different skillsets required for both - not all APRNs are cut out to be bedside RNs and not all RNs are cut out to be APRNs. Rather than attack those bright, driven student who enter this field to succeed, we should applaud them. Hostility will simply push the brightest out to other fields, such as PA or MD.

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It is true that in nursing there seems to be a stigma against wanting to strive for the best right in the beginning. No one looks down on someone who applies to an undergraduate biology program for the sole purpose of being a physician they don't tell them that they need to want to be a biologist first. It's accepted that the biology degree is nothing more than a stepping stone to what that person really wants to do. Nursing should be the same, there are many people who receive a BSN for the sole purpose of "checking the box" for graduate school. There's nothing wrong with knowing you want to be an NP/CRNA right out of the gate. RNs and APRNs are very different beasts and there are different skillsets required for both - not all APRNs are cut out to be bedside RNs and not all RNs are cut out to be APRNs. Rather than attack those bright, driven student who enter this field to succeed, we should applaud them. Hostility will simply push the brightest out to other fields, such as PA or MD.[/quote']

This is awesome and I wish it could be a sticky. So positive and I know I'm not the most positive poster but I always want to see people further their education if that is their desire. Nursing is so cutthroat and we need to start encouraging each other. Thanks for this post. And you too OP!

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses.com

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CRNA's ARE GODS!! JK :)

Curious why you thought that 30 was too old for med school?

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Hi,

I'm 42 and just finished Nursing Fundamentals with flying colors. Never give up on a dream...but nursing work and nursing school is TOUGH. "Fundies" is like the "weed-out" boot-camp course--or A & P for that matter. My suggestion: work as a CNA FIRST to see if nursing is really for you. I'm in an ADN program and 25% of the students have not passed to NUS 111/next semester either due to grades (which include clinicals!) or they had absolutely no prior experience with sick people/personal care and could "not handle it". Just saying...the way to eat an elephant is slowly, one bite at a time.

Good luck!

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All I can say to this posting is, AMEN.

I never would have considered going to nursing school until I learned about CRNA's. That was the spark that got me to consider nursing as a career. Now I am in nursing school and I am loving it. I am also learning that nursing is a much larger field than I had previously thought it was, and other aspects of it are catching my eye too.

It seems to me there is plenty of work to go around, and people don't need to try to discourage others from applying.

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Thanks for the encouragement OP. In regards to comments about pay; I've thought about crna for several reasons but the pay is actually kind of intimidating. If it's paying $150k am I going to have to sell myself to them or what?! My cousin who is a crna says it's the greatest job on Earth and to become one but I'm not sure about the work/life balance...

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Carley77, that's the first time I heard that! Haha but I seriously wish I had a family member that was a CRNA too sheeesh my inquirys for shadowing go unanswered. If only you were in NY!!

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Specializes in Critical Care.

I'm all for people furthering their education and not settling for being just a staff nurse for the rest of their lives (not thats there's anything wrong with it). I just feel like there are some people go into nursing simply for the fact that they want to become a CRNA, because of the money. Sorry, but there's also a lot of other people who went in nursing just because they thought it was 'recession proof' and that 'they'd always have a job' and that 'the money is good' and now look at job market, in some places new grads haven't found jobs in months, some over a year. I just think that people all of a sudden see the salary and immediately say I wanna be a CRNA without knowing what the job really entails. Remember there this is a public forum, you're not going to like what everyone is going to say, and if you didn't want to hear it then either don't read it and/or don't post it for the entire world to comment on.

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I disagree about becoming a CNA first to see if you like nursing. CNAs are all about patients' physical care, and don't do any of the "fun" nursing stuff. RNs interpret labs, do physical assessments, give medications, perform minor procedures, etc. RNs also have to do a lot more critical thinking and draw on their 2-4 years of nursing education/clinicals to help figure out the best intervention or when to report a symptom to a provider. CNAs mainly take vitals, help patients get dressed, and clean up rooms/patients. While nurses do those things too, you cannot judge the role of an RN by the role of a CNA - CNAs do all the hard stuff but none of the fun stuff!!

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