Interested in nurse anesthetist career but don't know where to begin :(

JoseQuinones · May 8, 2015

You do realize that before you can become an anesthetist, you have to be a nurse, right? You need the full BSN, plus 1 to 3 years of experience in critical care. Critical care jobs are highly competitive and are not usually handed out to new grads. Then you still have to be accepted into a CRNA school. These too are highly competitive and only take the best of the best. Concentrate first on getting to be the best nurse you can be, then decide what specialty to go into.

HolliLovesCake · May 8, 2015

Yes I'm aware of that.... It's not like I was planning to go straight to CRNA... I'm aware of all the time it will take and that I "will actually have to be a nurse" I don't think there is anything wrong with having a goal set to work towards.

llg, PhD, RN · May 8, 2015

Nothing wrong with having long-term goals ... but if you want to know how to get started, the answer is "Start nursing school." There is nothing you should be taking in-between now and starting nursing school. Find a nursing school in your area and get that BSN. Look at schools, choose the one that is best for you, and start taking classes.

HolliLovesCake · May 8, 2015

So go straight for my bachelors? Don't worry about an associates or anything?

JoseQuinones · May 8, 2015

The point I am trying to make is that you don't necessarily go straight into CRNA. It is a long road, not a direct shot. And you had better enjoy being a very good nurse.

littlepeopleRNICU · May 8, 2015

What's the reasoning behind wanting to get your bachelor's when your child is 3? The first step to everything, as you've already been made aware, is going to nursing school. You have two routes:

1. Get enrolled into an ADN program now. Graduate, try to get accepted into a critical care environment and then look into an RN-BSN program. These are heavily available online now, and there are a lot of good programs. Do research involving accreditation though. Start working as a nurse sooner...usually in 2ish years, so by the time you have graduated the BSN program, you've got a few years of experience already under your belt.

2. Get enrolled into a BSN program from the get-go. For some, they say they feel this option is smarter and quicker. Not necessarily. Plenty of the RN-BSN programs can be completed in a year to year and a half. So should you start immediately after graduating, or shortly after, you'd finish in around the same time as you would getting your BSN right away(going full-time) AND have nursing experience.

It is true that a lot of critical care units are competitive and prefer BSN-prepared nurses, however, that's not always the case. Here, one of the schools that offers ADN is very, very highly reputable and their grads have been known to be preferred over some of the 4-year schools. It just depends. Some hospitals also will be more willing to hire you if they know you are pursuing your BSN.

Even if you don't go straight to ICU out of school, just getting SOME nursing experience at that point is beneficial. You will need the ICU for your ultimate goals though.

HolliLovesCake · May 8, 2015

And I understood that from the get go. I will be in my 30's before I get to where I want. I'm asking for the best route to take and your statements were just a little discouraging.

HolliLovesCake · May 8, 2015

I want to wait until my child is 3 because it's my first child and I'm not anywhere near my family at the moment so finding childcare is difficult and I would like to be home. By the time I am back home and around family my child will be in school hopefully and it will be easier for me to work and get a masters with family around to help and him being in school. My mother in law was 33 before she went to nursing school and her youngest of three kids was 3 so I'm just basing that as a good age to start.

HolliLovesCake · May 8, 2015

And I just wanted opinions on if rn-bsn or starting out with BSN was the best option.

Melfldrn · May 9, 2015

I would, if you can, start taking your pre-reqs like your english, math, electives, psych/soc etc now. Do one or two of those at a time if you have to before your child is 3 so you have those out of the way. I went straight for the BSN but I already had all those courses out of the way from a decade before so that made it a lot easier. Honestly, if I had to do it again, I might have done the ADN first - its usually cheaper because they are offered at community colleges an such, and I could have gotten my early experience out of the way while working on the BSN. BUT... I will say that I see some coworkers juggling school and a nursing job and that's not easy either. So its really whatever works best for you. You can get a job in LTC or rehab/SNF with the ADN which is great experience and then move on to critical care once your have the BSN and experience. Regardless of what you choose, I highly recommend getting those englishes and stuff out of the way now. You'll thank yourself later! Good luck!

Melfldrn · May 9, 2015

Also, even if you go for the BSN straight through, there's a good chance you'll be starting out in LTC/rehab anyway. That's what myself and a lot of my classmates had to do because hospitals don't want anyone with no experience...including BSNs!