Need for an strong advice please

[yohanes9]

Hello everybody, you all awesome nurses and murses!

I hope to get the best possible advice cause this is so important to me

Ok I have 9 years of critical care experience in another country and thank god I became an RN here in the states last month and I've been applying for an entire month for different jobs posting according to my experience and I had four job interviews and I got four jobs offers

My question is which one will be better for me considering that I want to become a CRNA in a near future(5 years no more) and I'm very doubtful about the cath lab ( 3 years of experience scrubbing, circulating and recovery ) and the OR ( 4 years of experience scrubbing,circulating and recovery ) with also 2 years of ICU experience

I have three serious job offers two in the cath lab and the other in the OR both work teams members looks very nice people and supervisors as well, what I want to know is which one would be the best for me considering that I want to get into anesthetics school and of course I know that I need ICU experience but I'm thinking in maybe get a second part time job in the ICU

Cath lab and OR are my passion and the reason why I became an RN so please a good advice in this moment would be awesome so I can make the right decision

The forth job offers it is a sword own unit like ICU but with no critical pt as the ICU this is the last of all four

I was thinking that maybe in the OR I could shadow an anesthetist and get closer to what I want perhaps in the cath lab will be closer to more critical care so please any advice ??

Thank you all in advance

[Trauma_Llama]

That's a toughie. I think most CRNA programs only require a year or two of critical experience which you already have. The OR gives you the ability to work more closely with anesthesia providers and the step-down unit give you more direct patient care. I don't really see a pro to the cath lab except that you really like it.

Have you looked into CRNA programs yet? Maybe their requirements and recommendations could help you figure out what would make you a better candidate.

[yohanes9]

Thank you for your reply trauma_llama, and in fact yes I looked in some different programs and they just say one or two years of ICU CVICU experience, I was thinking like you that the OR will give me the opportunity to be close of the anesthesia department, thank you for your advice

[SandraFenway]

I like the idea of Cath lab over OR, because you will have more responsibilities for sedation and medicating the patient? In OR, there is already an anesthesia care provider. There are the rare sedation only procedures, but by and large you're a handmaiden to anesthesia, not doing direct care yourself. Cath lab wants ICU nurses, not OR nurses. I think it would distance from your out of country ICU experience to go to OR now. Gain "in country" critical care notches with Cath Lab, build on your critical care experience, don't get further from it. My two cents. Once in Cath lab, ask if you can observe in the heart room and plant yourself by anesthesia. Ultimately, though, it's what the CRNA school wants... What kind of nurse do they let in the program? Will they accept your out of country critical care experience?

[yohanes9]

Yes you have an strong point, and I need to find out what the CRNA school can accept my experience, what I was thinking is that maybe a second ICU part time job could compliment my international critical care experience, thank you for the insight this next week it's time to decide