I'm a current ER nurse looking to eventually go to CRNA school. I did fine in my undergrad program, but I'm pretty young and I'd probably have about 2 years of RN exp by the time I start the program, so I'm trying to do a few things to strengthen my application. It's a lot on my plate to try to get them all done at once so I'm trying to prioritize, and I could use some opinions on what I need to prioritize:
1. ICU experience -- unfortunately my ER is not lvl 1 trauma, just high acuity that end up in MICU/CCU. I deal with RSI drugs, drips like propofol, fentanyl, and nitro, and vented pts, but not like on the pts I had when I was a student in the NeuroSICU. I know this is priority, but I'm wondering, how hard should I push for a trauma SICU or SICU in general? I wouldn't get that at my current hospital, but I'd probably have a better shot at landing CCU/MICU/(non-trauma)SICU at my current hospital.
2. Publishing -- trying to get a paper on a very perio-op/anesthesia related topic published. I'm hoping to get it done, but will any CRNA program really care?
3. Prehospital -- I have one prehospital licence and I wouldn't mind doing some prehospital work on the side. I found out I can basically apply to get an advanced prehospital licence, which means I could get some RSI/tubes/trauma experience. It's a sort of long process and eats up some of my free time on the side. Any idea if it'd be worth it (it'd sure be fun though...)
4. Other "resume builders" -- I have some opportunities to be on some committees, work on some hospital policies, disaster plans, etc... Not as fun as the other stuff, but would it matter?
Thanks in advance for the help. I tried to look through all the stickies/do some searches on the topics so I hope I'm not duplicating anything here.
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I'm a current ER nurse looking to eventually go to CRNA school. I did fine in my undergrad program, but I'm pretty young and I'd probably have about 2 years of RN exp by the time I start the program, so I'm trying to do a few things to strengthen my application. It's a lot on my plate to try to get them all done at once so I'm trying to prioritize, and I could use some opinions on what I need to prioritize:
1. ICU experience -- unfortunately my ER is not lvl 1 trauma, just high acuity that end up in MICU/CCU. I deal with RSI drugs, drips like propofol, fentanyl, and nitro, and vented pts, but not like on the pts I had when I was a student in the NeuroSICU. I know this is priority, but I'm wondering, how hard should I push for a trauma SICU or SICU in general? I wouldn't get that at my current hospital, but I'd probably have a better shot at landing CCU/MICU/(non-trauma)SICU at my current hospital.
2. Publishing -- trying to get a paper on a very perio-op/anesthesia related topic published. I'm hoping to get it done, but will any CRNA program really care?
3. Prehospital -- I have one prehospital licence and I wouldn't mind doing some prehospital work on the side. I found out I can basically apply to get an advanced prehospital licence, which means I could get some RSI/tubes/trauma experience. It's a sort of long process and eats up some of my free time on the side. Any idea if it'd be worth it (it'd sure be fun though...)
4. Other "resume builders" -- I have some opportunities to be on some committees, work on some hospital policies, disaster plans, etc... Not as fun as the other stuff, but would it matter?
Thanks in advance for the help. I tried to look through all the stickies/do some searches on the topics so I hope I'm not duplicating anything here.