Newman University DNAP CRNA 2024

[CamillusRN]

Good luck to everyone applying to Newman University's DNAP 2024 cohort! In the words of CRNA Jon Lowrance (Anesthesia Guidebook podcast), competition among applicants ends once CRNA school begins. To help cultivate this mindset, this forum is for applicants to share tips and pearls they've found along the way for preparing for the highly anticipated interview!

I'm reading "Thinking, Fast and Slow," "Make it Stick, the Science of Successful Learning," and "Costanzo's Physiology" to prep! Podcasts like "Anesthesia Guidebook," "Core Anesthesia," and "ACCRAC" have been helpful in giving me an idea of what to expect for both the interview and understanding the stress of CRNA school!

What have you found helpful? What pitfalls do you anticipate? What did you most enjoy from your shadowing experience?

[CamillusRN, BSN]

Tips for the interview from one of my CRNA mentors (Newman alumnus):

1) Know a handful of drips by heart down to the receptor level if possible and steer the interview toward those. Go for the drips you use on your unit most frequently. Don't be surprised if they take you to a point where you no longer know the answer - they want to find out if you're a bullsh*ter or if you'll let them know when you're out of your depth when a patient's life is on the line during clinicals.

2) Know why you want to be a CRNA - make it about more than money, work-life balance, etc. Make it something that can convince you to keep going when you're looking at your bank account or your calendar and you're still in the thick of the suck. What would keep you going through school if someone dropped a billion dollars in your bank account and you never had to work another day?

3) If they ask what your favorite patient population or pathology is, know everything you can about that population or pathology including treatment and the meds you use, because that will be the next line of questions.

4) Know your Cardiac Output formula and associated formulas.

5) Know the autonomic nervous system and what/where your receptors are.

[CamillusRN, BSN]

Pearl on studying the autonomic nervous system physiology from one of my CRNA mentors (Newman alum and interview panel member):

Think about the evolution of the fight/flight response and rest/digest response. For example, when you think "what is epinephrine's effect throughout the body,” don't think only about heart rate and blood pressure. When you're getting chased by a tiger and the adrenaline's flowing, what's happening to your pupils? Lungs? Respiratory rate? Muscle tone? Senses of smell/pain/sight/hearing etc? Mucus membranes? Digestive tract? Urinary tract? Endocrine system?

What other ways have you come across on how to remember or study the ANS?

[CamillusRN, BSN]

Your interview may present you with a scenario and have you walk the panel through a decision paradigm to manage a patient. Podcasts like EMCrit and Audio Bricks: RX Bricks have shadowboxing episodes to help get in this mindset and practice decision making based on hypothetical situations!

What resources have you discovered to help cultivate a shadowboxing mentality? Do you run through scenarios with a peer? Play a choose-your-path medical game? 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/emcrit-podcast/id314020330?I=1000618665684

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-RX-bricks-podcast/id1530646481?I=1000615080547

[CamillusRN, BSN]

Pearl from a former preceptor: teaching others as a preceptor comes with the weighty responsibility of knowing what you're teaching, which keeps you a perpetual learner as you review the most current evidence for your orientee(s). One way to master critical care nursing is to teach others. Seek out opportunities to precept and test your depth of knowledge against the hungry mind of an eager trainee!

[CamillusRN, BSN]

Overview of student loans, finances, and loan repayment for CRNA students! Check out the links in the show notes for details on the content discussed.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/confident-care-academy/id1632831017?I=1000619425411

[CamillusRN, BSN]

Broad overview of learning - echoes the premise of "Make it Stick" mentioned in the first post, with a couple of sneaky anesthesia preceptor tricks thrown in!
 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/heavy-lies-the-helmet/id1248488560?I=1000591822769

Listening to "The Emergency Mind" podcast and reading the book by the same name by Dan Dworkis has also been incredibly helpful in preparing for high-level skill performance under high-stakes pressure!

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-emergency-mind-podcast/id1480163086

[CamillusRN, BSN]

How committed are you to patient safety? In your interview, safety practices are likely to come up either as an example from your own practice or where you identified a safety concern. See below for a 2-part anesthesia safety for trainees series from the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation (APSF) podcast.
 

Also below is an episode on medication safety in look-alike/Sound-alike (LASA) medications. Depending on your clinical setting, you may not have a Pyxis but rather a drawer full of high-risk medications ready for use as you and your preceptor deem appropriate. No pharmacist, no CPOE ordering with safety hard-stop alerts, no Pyxis, no point-of-care scanner - you're the only barrier between your patient and a potentially fatal medication error. It's never too early to start thinking about vigilance in LASA medications!

Trainee safety part 1: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/anesthesia-patient-safety-podcast/id1523116554?I=1000615928557
 

Trainee safety part 2: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/anesthesia-patient-safety-podcast/id1523116554?I=1000616904993
 

LASA Medications: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/anesthesia-patient-safety-podcast/id1523116554?I=1000618546855

[CamillusRN, BSN]

New podcast just dropped for critical care physiology. Brought to you from the mind behind Twitter's OnePager ICU!

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/critical-care-time/id1693543423

[CamillusRN, BSN]

What are you looking for in a CRNA program? Your interview panel will likely ask why you are interested in their particular school. What sets Newman apart for you? What does Newman offer?

You will also probably be asked what questions you have about the program. What's high on your list in terms of opportunities or clinical rotations such as Peds, Trauma, and/or cardiothoracic? Skills such as performing awake intubations or TEEs? Clinical settings such as CRNA-only vs medical directed vs medical supervision? How is the program prepared to prevent student attrition? Faculty attrition? How rigorous is the program's grading? Is an 80 a B or a C? How many C's are allowed? Some - not all - of this can be found on the program website so do some  homework and let the panel know you aren't "throwing spaghetti noodles at the wall to see what sticks" as Jenny Finnell puts it in the podcast below!

 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/CRNA-school-prep-academy-podcast/id1555772611?I=1000620875476

[CamillusRN, BSN]

Failing to plan is planning to fail - CRNA interviews for Newman will begin in November so how are you using the time between submitting your application and a potential invitation to interview? Are you waiting for the interview invitation before studying? If you're brushing up on your clinical knowledge but don't get an invitation to interview, is there any harm in becoming more of an expert in your practice? If you're waiting until the invitation comes before you start studying in earnest, you may have only a matter of a couple days to prepare!

In the same vein, how prepared are you and your family for the stressors of CRNA school? Does you significant other understand you may be fairly unavailable for a good portion of the program? See links below for podcasts on the CRNA interview and what significant others can expect during the program!

Interview prep:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/CRNA-school-prep-academy-podcast/id1555772611?I=1000566279230

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-CRNA-club-podcast/id1641657298?I=1000589098729

Relationships during CRNA School:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/CRNA-school-prep-academy-podcast/id1555772611?I=1000601067681

Spouses' perspectives of CRNA School: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/core-anesthesia/id1497473030?I=1000514895417

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/anesthesia-guidebook/id1528907211?I=1000503246198

[CamillusRN, BSN]

How familiar are you with how monitoring equipment works in the ICU? Your interview panel may ask how a pulse-ox works or how an EKG works. Can you go beyond the basic idea of putting a sticker somewhere and waiting for a number to pop up? See a link below to a medical equipment website tutorial created by an anesthesiologist to describe and explain the physics behind several types of medical equipment, and a podcast episode from CSPA with a broad overview of what the panel is looking for during the interview!

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/CRNA-school-prep-academy-podcast/id1555772611?I=1000566279272

https://www.howequipmentworks.com/

[CamillusRN, BSN]

Excellent interview on the emergency mind podcast about how enteroception (understanding your own emotions and feelings related to the experience of emotion) along with a sense of gratitude can help your mindset in the face of challenging situations!

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-emergency-mind-podcast/id1480163086?I=1000626294846