Plan B

deepz · Nov 30, 2004

I was wondering what everyone's plan B was .....

If you must settle for second-best, there's always med school.

deepz

angel337, MSN, RN · Nov 30, 2004

I was wondering what everyone's plan B was if they didn't get accepted to or just couldn't do CRNA school. I don't know if I am going to be able to do CRNA school with my current family committments. I am looking for career ideas that would give you qualities like autonomy, respect, good income, job security, challenging. Any suggestions? Thanks!

some people may disagree with me of course, but i do think nursing is a good secure job. i feel respected, but if you go by most of the posts on this board, alot of nurses say the wages are poor and they are disrespected on a daily basis (don't know why they stay). again it all depends on your individual experience. most nurses that are in a specialty such as ED, OR and L&D seem to be happier than med/surg nurses. not to say med/surg nurses aren't happy it just appears to be the most difficult of all nursing specialties. i find my income to be comfortable. i am not rich, but i am definitely not starving. so to answer your question i think you need to decide on what you need to do by what you think you can deal with. are you the kind of person that would rather give orders than receiving them? what kind of sacrifices are you willing to make in order to achieve that kind of career? if so, you may want to think about med school or being a nurse practitioner. most nurses don't make the high salaries that crna's make without doing alot of OT so you have to consider all those things. any career (lawyer, physician, engineer etc..) that has all those characteristics that you mentioned are usually pretty competitive and require your devoted attention. you should get some interesting responses because most people want that in a career but are usually not in a position to pursue it or not motiviated to go through years and years of schooling. i personally don't have the ambition to be a doc or lawyer. i like school but i like having family time more. good luck :)

Robb · Nov 30, 2004

Geee, that is a tough question and one that I have had to ask many times over the past 5 - 10 years. I find that life changes as much as I do, but I must decide what is most important for me at that point in life and go for it.

Personally, if you care, I tried for med school about 10 years ago and was marginal at the time which opened me up to another pathway. I thought that I was too old to beat my head against the door for several years in order to get into med school, so I opted for what I thought was a better path for me at the time, becoming a NP. After practicing for 5 years and after having a "normal" life for a while, I have decided to go back to become a CRNA. I have had time to experience many things in nursing, but I see the path that I WANT now and for the rest of my career. It took me a long time to make the decision and I have had great support from my family (a must).

One other part of the story. I spent many years pursuing my athletic dreams. Most of that is unseen by anyone but me, however, it is what I am most proud of to date.

We all work hard to get where we are. Make a decision and go for it! If you pass up an opportunity that you might regret, then it is a real bummer later in life as I see it.

Hope this helps. :rolleyes:

Trauma Columnist · Nov 30, 2004

I was never interested in CRNA but after being a nurse for several years, I decided that in order to go further, I would need more education. I made the decision to complete my BSN and do the MSN too. As it turns out, my facility is now a Magnet hospital and in order to advance a BSN is a must and an MSN is preferred so it worked for me. I was not interested in a NP or CNS, so maybe I'll go into management or education. However, any MSN opens doors. Good luck on your decision. I think its great you are getting differing opinions.

snakebitten · Nov 30, 2004

Try starting up your own locum agency for anesthesia providers. We pay the companies big $$ for provider services. :angryfire

zrmorgan · Dec 3, 2004

FLCRNA2B...have you ever thought about flight nursing? I always thought that would be a blast.

I was wondering what everyone's plan B was if they didn't get accepted to or just couldn't do CRNA school. I don't know if I am going to be able to do CRNA school with my current family committments. I am looking for career ideas that would give you qualities like autonomy, respect, good income, job security, challenging. Any suggestions? Thanks!