just a thought?!?!?

alansmith52 · Oct 16, 2003

hmmm a little hard to follow

athomas91 · Oct 16, 2003

yeah - i know - but i told it best i could - the circumstances are a little confusing.

i guess basically my first clinical interview - i was snubbed - mostly because i do not work at that facility - and i feel that is not necessarily fair.

Athlein · Oct 16, 2003

Welcome to anesthesia school.

Please note that the following is not directed at you, but it might come in handy.

Here are a few humbling lessons I have learned since I started as an SRNA last year. I have since learned that many of them are applicable to SRNAs from one coast to the other.

This is meant to be somewhat humorous, but there is a ray of truth in every statement.

1. Life is not about fair. Life as an SRNA is REALLY not fair.

2. If you are a whiner/complainer/vocal dissident, tell it all to your dog/spouse/mother - but not your program or anyone/anything remotely connected with it.

3. Rocking the boat will get you very wet. And your boat may sink.

4. Put up and shut up.

5. Mind your manners.

6. Pride goeth before a fall - usually in front of the chief CRNA, MDA, and surgeon. Sometimes patients get to watch this entertaining sport, too.

7. If you are not exhausted, you aren't working hard enough. There isn't enough caffeine on the planet to keep end-of-second-year SRNAs from being tired.

8. It's easy to be a big fish in a small pond. When you are a new SRNA, you are a phytoplankton in the Atlantic ocean.

9. Overachiever? Cannot-fail mentality? Superiority complex? Just wait until clinicals.

10. Learn to bite your tongue and smile while nodding your head in acknowlegement at the same time. This is VERY useful after exams and in clinical.

And the most important one:

11. You are the only one who can choose your attitude - negative or positive. HINT: choosing the latter will serve you well during your time as a student in anesthesia school.

Here are your own words... "and i know i should let it go".

Here is my response..."yep."

Cynthiann · Oct 16, 2003

I followed it on the first post. I just don't understand why you care so much your first choice didn't choose you. You said that when you choose it you knew you didn't have a good chance because so many other students already work there. So you obviously worked on getting in with the second choice by working there. If you wanted to get in with your first choice, why didn't you try to work there instead?

I don't think it's unfair that they will more likely choose someone that already works there. Once I graduate nursing school I would expect a hospital I'm already working at to hire me over someone else who has never worked there (of course, that I meet all the qualifications). It's not the exact same situation but it's the same idea.

live4today, RN · Oct 16, 2003

Wow Athlein, those "humbling lessons" sound much like the wonderful world of nursing today!

versatile_kat · Oct 17, 2003

Athlein - I will be printing off your "list" and posting it on my refridgerator when I start school in the fall to remind myself of how to make my life a little easier as an SRNA :).

as for the first post ... you're just going to have to get over it. I had almost the identical situation with the school I interviewed at, and it was for a position in the program!!! Unfortunately, I didn't find out that they give preferential treatment to people working for that medical system and resident's of the state until I spent money to fly up for the interview. But you know what? I still got accepted, I just had to wait another semester and I think things will work out for the best.

You never know - your second clinical site could be the most coveted site in the school. Besides, do you really want to have clinicals with a group of people that have already established a rapport with their instructors while you're made out to be "the new kid"? I personally would want to start off on the same step as the rest of my classmates that nobody knows ... you probably won't get singled out as often in your 2nd choice as you would have in your 1st for pimping.

my 2 cents.

athomas91 · Oct 17, 2003

yep - printing off those now to post on my fridge!!! thank you for the advice - i needed it

you knoow - sometimes you just need someone else to say what you really do know to make it "real"

i do hate (and i mean hate) to fail..... i guess i just wish they would have said - hey - we only have 9 positions and 9 interviewees work here ..... would have made it alot easier...

oh well

and as for rocking the boat - my husband already gave me the big "don't do it...." :)

Brenna's Dad · Oct 19, 2003

Good advice Athlein.

I agree with Cynthiann. I'm not sure why you are upset if you didn't want your first choice anyway.

Also, if you believe people are accepted based on their employment status, then you too are taking advantage of the system at your #2 choice.

Also, also I don't really see anything wrong with the clinical site interviews. These places are going to have to live with you for the enxt couple years, so they want to make sure you can all get along.

CRNA school os humbling. You go from being a "top dog" in the ICU and being in control to being deeply immersed in the student role. I've been in clinical going on six months now and it is still very very humbling.

yoga crna · Oct 21, 2003

Get used to it--clinical anesthesia is very humbling. A patient may not respond to medications the way you anticpate--you adapt. A surgeon is having a fight with his/her partner, wife, secretary, other surgeons and it is taken out on you. A hospital administrator is looking a ways to cut the budget and tries to renegotiate your contract--down; and on and on.

Believe me, this field humbles you fast. Save the energy for the important patient care issues that will develop on a regular basis and keep cool on just about everything else (except fair reimbursement)

YogaCRNA

Qwiigley, BSN, MSN, DNP, RN, CRNA · Oct 21, 2003

Welcome to the real world. "fair" has nothing to do with real life. It will show your professionalism by how you handle the situation. Challanges in life give us the opportunity to show what we are worth... to shine and to accomplish what we had not previously considered.

athomas91 · Oct 23, 2003

i thank you for all the posts - i did just keep my trap shut, sucked it up and went to the next interview- which i nailed !! so the schooling begins

the most repeated statement made by the board was - be ready to be humbled - don't take it personally but as a learning experience - and i guess my learning has started prior to school.....