How different is being a CRNA vs. being a nurse?

[Mesomorph]

So here's a little preface to bring you up to date before I ask my question:

I'm in my senior year of nursing school and basically... it royally sucks. I hated the last two semesters and I'm already frustrated by this semester. Whereas I was making 99s in highschool and straight As in my private university classes (where an A was 95+ in such courses as statistics), I am now consistently below-average in nursing school, and I'm left asking myself things like, "I've always done well, why am I bombing now?" ... and... "My IQ is 160+ yet I'm doing horrible... am I just incompatible with nursing?" and... "Will I REALLY like "real nursing" once I'm out?"

I am NOT lazy... To the contrary, I try very hard. However, I have tourette syndrome, ADD (which isn't a factor if I like what I'm studying), and have always seemed to need a solid 8+ hours of sleep or I'm just mentally dead. When I finally find time to study I'm too tired to remember/comprehend the material, and I can't take stimulants because that would exacerbate my currently mild tourette syndrome into a much worse state. It's like I am the square peg, and nursing school and everything it entails is a round hole. Trying to learn and implement all of this nursing process hullabaloo is akin to forcing clay through a sieve.

The ENTIRE reason I got into nursing was to become a CRNA. I originally planned on becoming an anesthesiologist, but I found the nursing route to be a wiser choice since it is faster, there is higher demand, and the skillset is pretty similar to anesthesiology. Although money is a factor, it's not all about the money for me and that is not the sole reason I want to be a CRNA.

I prefer my patients to be unconscious, I don't like dealing with their emotional needs, and I like to be specialized and to focus on one patient at a time so I don't have a million different aspects to my job description (not to say that being a CRNA is simple. You all know better than I do). Everyone that's known both me and a CRNA has said that I am built for it... that I have the drive for it, the mind for it, and the personality for it, but if I struggle through nursing school only to find that being a CRNA isn't all that different from being a nurse, then it will be a devastating realization.

Don't get me wrong... It's pointless to stop now... I'm getting my RN, but I've NEVER wanted to stop at RN. I've worked as a tech and I see what they do and there is nothing about lifting and dressing and wiping and comforting a 300 lb. stroke patient that appeals to me. It's just not how I'm built... I mean I have mercy on them as a human being but as far as my ideal job is concerned, that is not it.

So my question is this... Is being a CRNA drastically different from being an RN? This is my hope...

I've been talking to one of my friends... She feels the same way... We do not feel that "calling" at all... We've been discussing medical school as a future possibility (read: improbability)... Oy.

Thanks for taking the time to read all of this.

[krzysiu]

Colleagues that are either SRNAs or practicing CRNAs all tell me anesthesia school is SIGNIFICANTLY more rigorous than nursing school. Studies and material are pretty advanced. All have said school requires a major commitment and it is very difficult because of the amount of learning in a short time.

chris

So here's a little preface to bring you up to date before I ask my question:

I'm in my senior year of nursing school and basically... it royally sucks. I hated the last two semesters and I'm already frustrated by this semester. Whereas I was making 99s in highschool and straight As in my private university classes (where an A was 95+ in such courses as statistics), I am now consistently below-average in nursing school, and I'm left asking myself things like, "I've always done well, why am I bombing now?" ... and... "My IQ is 160+ yet I'm doing horrible... am I just incompatible with nursing?" and... "Will I REALLY like "real nursing" once I'm out?"

I am NOT lazy... To the contrary, I try very hard. However, I have tourette syndrome, ADD (which isn't a factor if I like what I'm studying), and have always seemed to need a solid 8+ hours of sleep or I'm just mentally dead. When I finally find time to study I'm too tired to remember/comprehend the material, and I can't take stimulants because that would exacerbate my currently mild tourette syndrome into a much worse state. It's like I am the square peg, and nursing school and everything it entails is a round hole. Trying to learn and implement all of this nursing process hullabaloo is akin to forcing clay through a sieve.

The ENTIRE reason I got into nursing was to become a CRNA. I originally planned on becoming an anesthesiologist, but I found the nursing route to be a wiser choice since it is faster, there is higher demand, and the skillset is pretty similar to anesthesiology. Although money is a factor, it's not all about the money for me and that is not the sole reason I want to be a CRNA.

I prefer my patients to be unconscious, I don't like dealing with their emotional needs, and I like to be specialized and to focus on one patient at a time so I don't have a million different aspects to my job description (not to say that being a CRNA is simple. You all know better than I do). Everyone that's known both me and a CRNA has said that I am built for it... that I have the drive for it, the mind for it, and the personality for it, but if I struggle through nursing school only to find that being a CRNA isn't all that different from being a nurse, then it will be a devastating realization.

Don't get me wrong... It's pointless to stop now... I'm getting my RN, but I've NEVER wanted to stop at RN. I've worked as a tech and I see what they do and there is nothing about lifting and dressing and wiping and comforting a 300 lb. stroke patient that appeals to me. It's just not how I'm built... I mean I have mercy on them as a human being but as far as my ideal job is concerned, that is not it.

So my question is this... Is being a CRNA drastically different from being an RN? This is my hope...

I've been talking to one of my friends... She feels the same way... We do not feel that "calling" at all... We've been discussing medical school as a future possibility (read: improbability)... Oy.

Thanks for taking the time to read all of this.