HappyCCRN1

I asked a CRNA that was dropping off a post-op patient in our SICU how I could go about shadowing her or another CRNA since I was interested in applying to schools. We exchanged numbers and I followed up with her. She set it all up and was extremely helpful and enthusiastic about me coming in. I’m not sure how it’s done elsewhere- I feel like I lucked out!

I found this post very helpful while preparing for my interviews. I also searched for threads from years past on interview styles for each school that was interviewing me. Some schools change it up every year and it's best to be prepared for everything, but information can be anxiety relieving. If there is someone you can practice with, I'd recommend doing so. It certainly helped me. You don't want to sound reheorificed (they'll see right through that), but I found it helpful to say certain points out loud that I knew would come up in conversation. Or that I wanted to bring up. I brought with me copies of all of my transcripts, certifications, licenses, test scores, etc. Everything that I submitted to them online plus things that might have been pending. In my case, it was completion of a Chemistry course and my GRE scores. I was able to pull them out and hand them over when they asked about those holes in my application. They seemed impressed by that preparedness. Be genuine. And through the nerves, be personable. In my opinion, it all comes down to the interview. Everyone interviewing looks exactly the same on paper, so you need to make yourself stand out. If you can shove the nerves down and let your personality come through, I believe that has a great effect. The two interviews that I felt the most comfortable and confident in, where the conversations just flowed naturally, were the ones I received acceptance. Good luck!

I will second the above in regards to your CRNA goal. I'm not at all familiar with military options, but in civilian world, ground or flight transport will typically require a bare minimum of 3 years experience (in ED or ICU). CRNA requires 1 year of ICU experience (but most people will get in with >3 years). I started a new job doing critical care and trauma ground transport as I was applying to schools, and the director for one of the programs urged me to stay in the ICU until the start of the program. Point is that almost every single school will not view flight as an equivalent to ICU or critical care experience, so you should think about which route you ultimately want to take. Again, I am not sure if my above statements apply to the military CRNA programs.

Loma Linda University. According to their website (and 2 colleagues I knew that attended), the first six months are entirely hybrid and require minimal student on-campus attendance. University of South California's first Summer semester is online. From what I've read here and there, possibly Old Dominion, Rutgers, and Barnes Jewish College Goldfarb SON.

I’ve worked at 3 different hospitals that offered a $1000 bonus for one certification. Decided to do my CCRN at the hospital that did this AND even paid for me to take the review class. They actually paid for the 2 day review course, gave me “educational PTO” for the 8 hours each day (since I was taking off work that week) as well as 3 hours to actually sit and take the exam, and then the $1000 bonus came a few weeks later. My unit was 87% certified and Beacon Gold. These benefits were available to every inpatient unit in the hospital. Our upper management took a lot of pride in our cert numbers and I think that positive attitude trickles down. I feel for those that aren’t recognized more for certification.

I’m dying. This comment by this username is the best thing I have seen on this site yet. It’s going to be a great week. Thank you.

Completely agree. This kind of report would typically take 30-45 minutes on 2 ICU patients. I think a condensed version would be more feasible for 5-6 med/surg patients. Some sort of consistency in report and accountability of the off going nurse goes a long way. Too bad the theory of “nursing is a 24/7 job” is used as an excuse to not follow up or check on things and that this attitude wins out over setting your peers (and patients!) up for success. I don’t believe it should be the expectation that you look your patients up before you start your shift unless you can clock in and get paid for that time. If nurses feel this is absolutely necessary and the only way to be successful on their unit, I believe an alternative solution needs to be offered by management.

So not agency then, but maybe you could go full time at another facility and stay prn where you’re at now (considering you’d keep the tuition benefit). I wish I had a better solution to offer. It sounds like the tuition benefit is great and something you don’t want to lose. Solely for that reason, I would hesitate on quitting just yet and continue searching within your company, maybe email HR to get the ball rolling a bit.

If your priority is getting a job with your parent company, I personally would not leave just yet. Ask yourself what would happen if you give your notice, quit, and then there are no availabilities on a unit you prefer or with hours you prefer? You’d lose that benefit of your BSN cost being offset. I was miserable in a job working night shift with a little over an hour commute that I had to do by bus, 2 trains, and a shuttle. I quit with nothing backed up. But I also had 5 years of experience and was in a financially sound situation to be able to do that. My priority was happiness and overall well-being, too. I found work immediately. With your 3 years of experience, you should be fairly marketable to find another job quickly. Although if you did quit with nothing backed up and you lose your paid BSN benefit, this might cause more stress to your life. Could you do some research into other companies and facilities in your area to see if they would offer this same benefit to you? What about dropping down to part time or per diem with your current employer—would that benefit still be available to you? If so, you could stay on but work less hours there and then work elsewhere with an agency? Best of luck to you!

This practice was forbidden by management on the last unit I worked so it was definitely not part of the culture. We were told if you wanted to look your patients up and access their chart, you had to clock in (but not before 7 til) and be back in the break room for huddle at 0700 or 1900. There was only one nurse who would do this “research” for 7 minutes. This was also a unit though, that had tremendous support for management and a streamlined, consistent way to give report. As charge, I would typically be able to look through all of the charts to check on appropriate orders before end of shift and follow up with our physicians if anything looked wonky. We also had a very consistent and standardized way of giving report. Off going and oncoming nurse would look together at orders, labs, patient history, and go through the systems together. And then end of report consisted of those nurses actually putting eyes on the patient, their lines, drips, and the monitor. I believe if report is done this way every time, there truly is no need for you to come in and do this extensive research on your patients.

Have you asked management this? Your concern for safety is valid. Is this something only happening on the floors? If so, there must be an alternative solution that they can offer. I can’t imagine not having restraints available on my vented patients in the ICU. I feel bad for the staff and patients and their families in this situation. Maybe I only know one way and that’s why I can’t picture a positive outcome. I would be voicing my concerns on a daily basis—in person and through emails—and asking for recommended solutions. Truthfully, I’m curious what the response and overall outcome will be. I hope you’ll return to update us.

Agree with the above. If you are giving an antibiotic or electrolyte replacement, etc., they need the whole bag. Use a secondary in this situation. I see infusing those medications with a primary set instead of a secondary as a nursing sin—it drives me crazy.

No, there are no online master’s CRNA programs. The timing of this with your circumstances just suck. I’m sorry it’s not working out the way you envisioned. I can imagine the frustration of this. Your feelings are understandable and your wanting to vent/rant is understandable. Finding people to join in your woes can be therapeutic. As you can tell already though, most of us are for this change. If you’re posting a rant on a public forum and didn’t expect someone to oppose your view and comment, then I would be truly shocked. If you wanted a more engaging, supportive, and productive conversation, you would have worded your original post differently. I hope you find what you’re looking for.

This was a question for one of my application essays. If you’re involved in committees or leadership roles now, do you enjoy them, and is that something you’d want to do as a CRNA? If so, speak to that. Have you done research before or find particular areas of anesthesia intriguing that you would want to do research in? If so, talk about that. Where do you want to work? Rural areas of the country or in academic medical centers (and why?). And exactly like the above posts were saying—are you interested in involvement with state associations, politics, etc. I believe they want to know if you’ve given more thought than just “work as a CRNA” after you graduate. They want leaders in their program and those that think ahead to the future. They want to know what you’re impact and contribution will be to this profession. At least that’s what I interpreted and wrote about.

First, I’m very sorry for your experience and feelings of inadequacy. We have all been there. Through this, you will be a better provider and a better person. I am curious, though, if there was any diagnostic imaging ordered? And if her other vitals beside spO2 were stable and within her baseline? SOB, desat to 80’s, anxiety (above baseline of being needy), and I immediately want a CXR (which would not show a PE, but other things could then be ruled out), and an ABG. Nothing on CXR? Start heparin and get a stat CT chest. No one ever expects a patient to get a PE, but there are more things that can be done to catch it and prevent it from being fatal. Yes, her sats came back up, but with supplemental oxygen now. She sounded wet, so lasix seems appropriate given her CHF, but still with her symptoms, more should have been ordered and done to figure out the exact cause of these things. This is not your fault. But you can use this tragedy to learn and be better. You are truly compassionate and that will take you far. Don’t lose that.

Seriously, no opinion or thought goes through my head if I even notice what kind of shoes some random man is wearing.

Just some advice for future situations would be to close the loop on communication. If something is not clear to you (in this case, the RT dances around giving you a yes or no answer), be more direct in your questioning (without being accusatory) to get that answer. Maybe follow it up with suggesting that you would be happy to administer the treatment or say that you are concerned they receive it on time as they’ve had shortness of breath. It would be good practice to end your conversations with other clinicians by summarizing what is going to be done and when. Seems like the issue here was mainly miscommunication.

Proactive, perhaps, but then how are they able negotiate? It’s called a negotiation for that reason—both sides won’t get exactly what they want. If they don’t have nurses available to them to work, they lose their negotiating chip and the union does get exactly what they want. And without scabs, they would get it every single time. And what’s the issue with that? It can lead to abuse of that power. It’s not a noble purpose they serve, but an economical one.

I agree with all of these points. I am just offering a different perspective. Without scabs, the hospital can’t negotiate and the union gets what they want. I don’t at all believe they are asking for trivial things. However, I see potential for abuse from that side of the table in a world without nurses willing to walk across the line. That is all.

Without “scab” nurses, what would happen? Hospitals lose their negotiating power with the nursing unions. Unions could then become overly demanding and have the upper hand in every negotiating situation. Not saying that it’s not a bad thing (for nurses, anyway), but potential is there for it to snowball and become abused. Seems like scabs offer somewhat of a balance.

Literally does not matter. Not for CRNA school, not for future jobs. Do what’s best for your time and finances.

You’re not getting the experience that you need and want and you’ve come to this realization at less than a year. The feelings of guilt about leaving are completely understandable, but this is your career and your future. I’m not sure what your options are as far as hospitals in your area, but if CRNA is your goal, I would start looking now. It seems like you’ve done the research you need to know where you should apply: high acuity ICU’s. Most programs like surgical, med-surg, or CV ICU. I worked in a huge burn ICU and gained incredible experience there. But I learned so much more when I transferred over to surgical/trauma ICU because of the case variety. I feel that really rounded out my resume when I was submitting applications. My one regret was not having CV experience, but it didn’t come up as an issue for me. Good luck!

Read into what their requirements are and reach out to the program coordinator for clarification if needed. But yes, I had to submit every single one.

What a stressful situation to have to think about every time you go into work! I'm so sorry. If it does happen, I would say something like... "I feel very uncomfortable with this situation. This is a huge patient safety issue. I cannot take report until someone else comes in to fulfill the supervisor role." Then escalate, escalate, escalate. I have worked in several different ICU's and myself and colleagues have refused to take an assignment before because of the unsafe acuity and staffing ratios. It forced our charge nurse to take an assignment and our manager to take over the charge nurse role. Yes, it sucked and I hated doing it, but it was not my fault that there was inadequate staffing. And you accept responsiblity by taking an assignment and taking report. If something terrible happens because of the unsafe assignment you were given, your license is potentially on the line. You just never know. I am always willing to lose a job over losing my license. I am so glad you are searching elsewhere.