New grad wants to be CRNA

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Specializes in Tele, ICU, Staff Development.

Dear Nurse Beth,

I'm a new-ish grad (6 months experience) and currently I work on an oncology/med-surg unit. My long term goal is to become a CRNA and I know that prior to applying, CRNA school requires critical care experience.

There are some programs I've looked at that allow acute care experience if nurses can prove competency in critical care pharmacology/invasive monitoring/hemodynamic monitoring/ventilators. I know it is very difficult to get an ICU position as a new grad, but I'm worried that by spending my 1-2 years in med surg and then 1-2 years critical care, I'll be pushing school until a much later point in my life. Do you have any advice on getting an ICU position as a new grad nurse who has about 6 months experience in bedside nursing? Or am I just being impatient and I need to wait? Thanks!

Dear Impatient,

What is your facility's policy on transferring between units?

Many hospitals do not permit employee-initiated transfers at 6 months. Some hospitals initiate the transfer when a new grad is having difficulty in their specialty. Often this will be the opposite of your situation, for example, when a new grad is in ICU or ED and is then transferred to a MedSurg unit.

What you can do is find out the process in your facility for transferring to ICU.

Talk to the ICU educator or manager and let her know you're interested in ICU. There may be a fellowship coming up that you may not know about. At the very least, you have gotten on her radar.

While 1-2 years seems like a long time, in reality, it will fly by. In the meantime, apply yourself and learn all you can. Your experience now will make you a better CRNA in the long run.

Best wishes ?

Start your job search today!

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On 2/9/2020 at 11:07 AM, Nurse Beth said:

Dear Nurse Beth,

I'm a new-ish grad (6 months experience) and currently I work on an oncology/med-surg unit. My long term goal is to become a CRNA and I know that prior to applying, CRNA school requires critical care experience.

There are some programs I've looked at that allow acute care experience if nurses can prove competency in critical care pharmacology/invasive monitoring/hemodynamic monitoring/ventilators. I know it is very difficult to get an ICU position as a new grad, but I'm worried that by spending my 1-2 years in med surg and then 1-2 years critical care, I'll be pushing school until a much later point in my life. Do you have any advice on getting an ICU position as a new grad nurse who has about 6 months experience in bedside nursing? Or am I just being impatient and I need to wait? Thanks!

Dear Impatient,

What is your facility's policy on transferring between units?

Many hospitals do not permit employee-initiated transfers at 6 months. Some hospitals initiate the transfer when a new grad is having difficulty in their specialty. Often this will be the opposite of your situation, for example, when a new grad is in ICU or ED and is then transferred to a MedSurg unit.

What you can do is find out the process in your facility for transferring to ICU.

Talk to the ICU educator or manager and let her know you're interested in ICU. There may be a fellowship coming up that you may not know about. At the very least, you have gotten on her radar.

While 1-2 years seems like a long time, in reality, it will fly by. In the meantime, apply yourself and learn all you can. Your experience now will make you a better CRNA in the long run.

Best wishes ?

Hi Beth, is there a feasibility where new grads can start in ICU? ever heard of Aneths assistant programs? its Master level and they take students with bachelor from any background! in 2 or 3 years the graduate can practice same as CRNA! which makes me think if such programs can get a person ready to be in such field the old classic req for CRNA programs to spend years in ICU is absolutely antiquated and outdated!

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Specializes in Tele, ICU, Staff Development.
26 minutes ago, xindin said:

Hi Beth, is there a feasibility where new grads can start in ICU? ever heard of Aneths assistant programs? its Master level and they take students with bachelor from any background! in 2 or 3 years the graduate can practice same as CRNA! which makes me think if such programs can get a person ready to be in such field the old classic req for CRNA programs to spend years in ICU is absolutely antiquated and outdated!

There are definitely hospitals that hire new nursing grads into ICU, yes.

An Anesthesia Assistant is a non-nursing role that practices under the supervision of an anesthesiologist.

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Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

Allnurses Student Registered Nurse Anesthetist forum has great advice on entering CRNA role:

https://allnurses.com/student-registered-nurse-anesthetist-c163/

With 2 years oncology/med-surg, often you've just reached proficient phase of nursing career, have solid assessment skills and exposure to variety of disease processes, meds and treatments which will make a transition into an ICU unit easier --especially when split second decisions sometimes need to be made.

Join your local chapter of American Association of Critical-Care Nurses:

https://www.aacn.org/about-aacn -- you can gain understanding ICU units and resources in your area, attend local education sessions and have a great chance to network, network, network to land an ICU position.

I highly recommend attending AACN's NTI-National Teaching Institute https://www.aacn.org/conferences-and-events/nti offers cutting edge sessions on advanced Med/Surg topics along with Critical Care sessions. That's how I advanced to Respiratory ICU position. Plus Allnurses hosts a booth yearly at the convention!

Those 3-4 years will fly-by. Best wishes furthering your career.

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