Med school drop out, now a CRNA. Ask me anything...

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The title says it all. Did not do well in med school, dropped out, did a ABSN program, worked in the ICU for 2 years before going on to CRNA school. Now I am a CRNA.

30 minutes ago, elephantlover said:

You can get your masters in anesthesia and become a certified anesthesia assistant. Different from CRNA school. CNRA programs build off of the student's critical care experience as RNs. Not absurd. Makes them qualified, experienced, skilled.

I didn't know about that, thanks. I'll look into it. I'm assuming I can get in with a BSN correct?

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Specializes in Nurse Anesthesiology.
16 hours ago, Mr_Edwino said:

I didn't know about that, thanks. I'll look into it. I'm assuming I can get in with a BSN correct?

Pretty sure he is referring to an AA degree. Prereqs for that are different than CRNA school and not all states allow AAs to practice. Also AAs cannot function independently like CRNAs can. Huge difference in types of practice for an AA vs CRNA.

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22 hours ago, Mr_Edwino said:

I didn't know about that, thanks. I'll look into it. I'm assuming I can get in with a BSN correct?

If you have a your RN/BSN, then CRNA is the way to go.

If you don't already have your RN, then Certified Anesthesiology Assistant (CAA or AA) may be more direct and quicker because you don't need the RN for admittance nor do you need ICU experience before applying. There are some pre-requisite classes and you must have an undergrad degree but I'm not an expert so look into it.

However AAs can only practice in a limited number of states (17 only, for example does not include the west coast, upper Midwest and NY/Pennsylvania) so you couldn't get ANY job in NY or in California, unless states add AA approval. And AAs must ALWAYS practice under an MD Anesthesiologist whereas CRNAs can practice independently in 27 states but can get supervised jobs in all 50 states.

So if you go AA you'll have to be ok with those limitations.

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Specializes in ICU.
On 1/18/2019 at 12:33 AM, Mr_Edwino said:

I didn't know about that, thanks. I'll look into it. I'm assuming I can get in with a BSN correct?

My understanding is that CAA school is the anesthesia equivalent of PA school. So with the proper prereqs you could get in with any bachelor's degree. Mier Kat is probably correct in that CNRAs are more widely used. Not sure what the outlook is for CAA

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Specializes in Public Health Science.
On 8/18/2018 at 11:10 PM, MDdropouttoCRNA said:

I did not felt CRNA school was as hard as medical school. You can practice as a CRNA as long as you pass the NCE... On the other hand, the lowest score on the USMLE will not land you a residency... I felt like CRNA school was about as rigorous as my undergrad premed classes (I went to a top public school)... I studied about the same number of hours in CRNA school as I did during undergrad... The problem with medical school is that you are competing with people who scored really well on the MCAT, I felt like I was studying all the time during medical school but I was still at the bottom of my class and were all competing with eachother for residency positions... CRNA schools on the other hand do not value your GPA as much and the GRE was a breeze compared to the MCAT, CRNA schools place more emphasis on ICU experience as opposed to GPA... And the good thing about CRNA school is that were not competing with eachother for residency positions... The bottom 30% of each med school cohort will most likely end up in the least desirable specialties...

As someone who also dropped out of medical school. I find this so inspiring. No one can prepare you emotionally for the toll that studying no stop takes on your well being in medical school. I choose to no go back to medical and pursue nursing instead because I still want to care for patients but I also want to care for myself too. I was an overachiever struggling to get by and it just didn't seem healthy for me to continue living that way for the next 7+ years. I left early but it still takes a toll on you. I re-read your story all the time to remember that this is not the end but just another path that might be better suited for how I want to live life. I want to work hard but I also want time to recuperate. Medical school doesn't give you that. You barely feel like you can rest after each block exam and then you start preparing vigorously for the next block. It's just too taxing on the body to live that way for most students. I wish more people would share with others that medical school isn't this great achievement once you are in...Its only the beginning of a long struggle. My classmates use to cry all the time and I found myself crying at school for the first time in my adult life. Crying every day and feeling depressed just became normal. Leaving medical school will forever be the best decision I ever made in regards to my quality of life.

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Specializes in PICU, CTICU.

what helped you the most for the GRE?

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Specializes in ICU, CCRN..
On 8/20/2018 at 11:28 PM, MDdropouttoCRNA said:

I know texas wesleyan is distance learning... and not 100% online... Its still offsite though, thats what I mean by online, not like those NP schools that are 100% online, your clinicals can be done at various sites throughout the country but its a good flexible program for those who can't relocate if there happens to be a clinical sight near them.... I was doing fine but not stellar in medical school until the USMLE... My MCAT and GPA was below average which was already an indication that I should have not gone to med school.... the only reason why I got in was because of my extracurriculars and research experience.. sorry but I choose to remain anonymous and have no business proving anything to you...

I don't think Texas Wesleyan is online. for example, the first year 12 months is fully on campus. when you say online, people do think it's like some online degree and I think that could be misleading.  say TCU, the first 9 months is fully online but nobody calls it online program and it is a very good program. 100% online can have a negative connotation and misleads future students and I read through the whole thing and found out a lot of future students commenting here. It hurts me to see people say not accurate things about my school and harm its reputation. Thank you!

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Read through the whole thread. Thanks for reinforcing my decisions. Med school was a path I was going to take, however I wanted to jump into the profession ASAP. I think I’ll be better suited in the CRNA environment I appreciate your input.

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Specializes in Former NP now Internal medicine PGY-3.

CRNA is a good route, Glad it worked out. Some places can end up ahead in lifetime earnings vs physicians in some specialties.

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Specializes in MMS Student.

Your story interests me, and I'm so glad it all worked out. I'm currently finishing a Master's in Medical Science at a DO school after earning a BA in biology in undergrad. The primary goal was to use the masters as a boost in my med school application, but now I'm thinking that CRNA sounds like a more attractive career path. Obviously, I wouldn't want to go back and do a 4 year BSN after all this... Can you describe your experience with the ABSN? Did you need to become an RN first? How did you find a program that fit you best? How long did the whole process take between stopping med school and becoming a CRNA?

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Did you feel like the semesters in CRNA school were just as dense as medical school? Or is the difficulty similar to that of premed courses? I found that premed courses were more difficult, conceptually, than medschool courses. But overall med school is harder than the premed courses because its a lot more dense

 

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Specializes in Former NP now Internal medicine PGY-3.
1 hour ago, Gmilitar said:

Did you feel like the semesters in CRNA school were just as dense as medical school? Or is the difficulty similar to that of premed courses? I found that premed courses were more difficult, conceptually, than medschool courses. But overall med school is harder than the premed courses because its a lot more dense

 

I haven’t done CRNA school but would say medical schools vary so much on curriculum that it would probably depend more on specific school attended than CRNA vs md. Medical schools are not homogeneous 

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