what made you want to be a CRNA?

heartICU · Jul 7, 2005

I am considering pursuing CRNA. Please advise:
what made you want to be CRNA (be honest!)?
What are the pros and cons of being a CRNA?
Is is possible to have an 8 year old and a 4 year old and do the program? Also, is a teaching hospital the best place for ICU experience and how much ICU experience do you feel a person needs to be well prepared for the CRNA program? I know that there is only one year requirement. Is that enough?
Also, do you feel this career still allows you to be important part of your family? The one thing that I did not like about the hospital was having to work weekends and holidays. It was hard. How many hours does a CRNA usually work in a week?
I hope this was not too many questions but any advise would be great!

See the FAQ sticky at the top of this thread.

skipaway · Jul 8, 2005

what made you want to be CRNA (be honest!)?

My Aunt was a nurse and I remember her as the most calm, caring individual in a crisis. I wanted to be like her and thought nursing was the answer.

I had my tonsils out at 5yrs and actually remembered the induction of my anesthetic. I was told to breath in the mask (black rubber at the time) and watched the "black balloon" expand and deflate. Then I remember this bizarre loud buzzing noise in my head and thinking "what is that?" That was all I remembered until I woke up. So, in 5th grade, after reading alot of fictional nurse and doctor books, I told my mother I wanted to be an anesthesiologist. LOL, she told me I couldn't do that??? Not sure why, she laughingly denies ever telling me I couldn't be a doc. So then, not too long after I decided nursing was what I wanted to do the most. I was a nurses aid in a nursing home during high school, and if you don't like taking care of people, you'll find out soon enough working in a nursing home. Having passed that test, I went to nursing school and found out early on, that there was such a creature as a nurse anesthetist, that they did everything an MD did and that's what my goal became. I graduated in 1985 and spent 2years on a med-surg floor getting some of the best experiences ever. Skipped over to an ICU for 4years and then applied and got into anesthesia school. Graduated 2yrs. later and the rest is history. To me, and probably to most CRNAs there are no cons to this career, only pros.