CVnurse2014

Interviewed one weekend, acceptance letter the following week by like Thursday. But they had also pushed back the application deadline that year and so interviews were later and the program was staring in ~6 months?

I interviewed at Newman 2 years ago and ultimately chose a different program. Very tough interview. They want you to show you have some solid background and that you have studied to prepare for this. But another huge part of going through these clinical scenarios in interviews, is not guessing to give them an answer. They’re trying to take you down a path and to a level of information that 99% of nurses don’t know even when you’re an icy nurse with great experience. They want you to acknowledge that you don’t know versus guessing which may show overconfidence or clueless confidence, cockiness and a general disregard for the levity and consequences that guessing will pose if continued during anesthesia practice. so once I got to a point where I didn’t know the answer anymore, I explained everything I knew about what they were asking, and then said, but I am not sure what the correct answer to your question is. But I can definitely see how this would be extremely important to understand for anesthesia and would look forward to learning more about it in school. And at some point I also said I am definitely going to be thinking about this for a while and looking it up after this interview. interview questions a two minute elevator speech about yourself and why you over everyone else or why anesthesia if you’re out of state, why you chose the school. Do you have anyone that lives around here? -Basically looking for you to show your tenacity. You’re prepared to move and live without anyone nearby. How you’ll handle that stress how are you financially prepared for this? clincally They may start out easy with your pulse oxes reading 68 what do you do first. Walk through steps of checking pulse ox and they say yup. That’s fine. OK is everything connected (vent etc) you fine. OK then I would listen for breath sounds. You only hear it on the right. OK so I think we are right main stem and the ETT should be pulled back. OK great the tube got pulled back sat 100%. Why does the to go right mainstem- know the difference in anatomy that cause it to go down right vs left. So just know too, your answers guide the next question. In terms of cardiac and hemodynamics, if they’re asking you to treat someone with a low blood pressure, whatever drug you used to treat it be able to speak to the receptor level how the drug is working to produce the effect. Don’t use a drug you cant do that with. know which drugs would be used for right heart failure versus left heart failure, how a balloon pump helps with heart failure, if a drug causes arterial or Venous dilation. Not sure if these were more because I was a CVICU nurse or if everyone had these. How do you to tell a balloon pump is in correct position on an x-ray, do you detect, during inflation or deflation, what artery is blocked if the catheter is advanced to far. Why do they use helium? ( because of its low density it can shuttle more quickly beat to beat) Know the difference between shunting and dead space. They’ll ask you to identify if clinical situation is from shunting or from dead space. Not a topic I could grasp very well before school but stumbled through an answer. -which included here’s what I know and I forward to learning more about this Receptor level of how sedatives produce their effects. And then why those sedatives also produce hypotension. and then after they beat you up for a little bit. They might do some more personality questions. ask you how do you think the interview went? And if you didn’t get into school this time, what would you do? What would you have done differently for this interview? and do you have any questions for us. A couple things about the program that I learned from their current students that we met met during the interviews. The school was very well known for having one of the best regional rotations and experiences amongst CRNA schools. This is a great attribute to have. SO MANY programs have minimal regional opportunities for students so you’ll meet the requirements for graduation but not nearly enough to be able to competently do them on your own. (Which not all jobs let crnas do the nerve blocks or epidurals anyways) but a great skill to learn for CRNA only practice more autonomy. I also asked if they had ever felt like they were gonna fail out of the program. And they pretty quickly said no. Which I think speaks to the support from the faculty to help with your learning? Other programs when I asked definitely could not say that students hadn’t filled out or felt like they were going to fail. your clinical sites could be a pretty far drive I believe. Multiple sites so not all students get the same experience which you could be lucky and get the better or lesser experience. And the timing of your experiences varies a lot.

Yeah, in hindsight-the fact that it’s hard to get information should tell you a lot about the program. Current student. Don’t go here.

Called to interview in April. Looks like they just keep dragging it out

Any feedback in how you liked the program or places you found to stay? Areas you would recommend

So I've been accepted at Youngstown/St Elizabeth and they are waiting on a deposit to accept my place in school for fall 2020. But I still have an interview coming up at Albany in April. Now its been super hard to find more info or insight into either of their programs! Benefits or comments on one or the other. Whether one gets better clinical exposure than the other. Does anyone have any insight into either program? Their faculty? Their sites? Experiences? or how did you get the info to help you decide between programs? What I have found is that Youngstown does do open hearts, lots of different clinical sites which I m not sure if it means more travel for sites. Unsure if we compete with residents but there are a lot of cases that they have on average per student. Unsure of regional experience or other skills, and they were a little indirect about answering this. Albany I did read competes with residents, only observes open hearts, and unsure of regional experience as well. Don't know about traveling to sites other than I believe most are right at Albany Med. TIA!!!

yes, any info on what the interview is like? A lot of technical questions? CCRN Prep? Or more get to know you and your job interview type questions?

Probably those who get an interview get the emails first.. the rest of us are the bottom of the list (email together) that says we don't get an interview

@ProgressiveThinking Where are new CRNA grads getting offer 290-350 K? and where did you go to school?

I was just curious, as there are over 100 potential schools to look into and apply to and so much research to do to look into any specific program. Anyone in a program that finds it absolutely terrible or unsupportive? Schools to avoid? Maybe not all the facts laid out? More simulation than clinical experience? etc Or for the program you started, what do you wish you would have known more about it? (and what questions we should be asking alumni about the program) Thanks in advance for the help and advice!