jessi78

Does anyone have a concise reference/lecture on this they'd be willing to share for me to review? (pdf or ppt). PM me - much appreciated!!

i agree with my friend AC you should definitely apply. you have nothing to lose.

a graduate anesthesia program is total culture shock - and yes - you really will work harder than you ever have before in your life. make sure it is something that you want and be prepared for temporary but major, sacrifices.

hey - i totally feel your pain. and believe me, it will get worse before it gets better. HOWEVER, look to your classmates for support. i guarantee that most of them, if not all, are feeling the same exact way. the students in my class are so close and we push each other along. if i didn't have their support, i don't know where i'd be. reach out - you're all in it together. study groups are helpful as well as a few venting phone calls. no one understands better than someone going through the same exact thing. it feels like it's never-ending. but when we started this we knew it was about sacrifice and that this program would be one of the biggest challenges, if not the biggest, that we'd ever have to overcome. i KNOW that it will be all worth it in the end. keep on keeping on!

I think that a 3.0-3.3 might be acceptable as long as you had other things to boost up your resume. I think there is a bit of forgiveness on early grades when you were younger (in college)- especially the non-nursing classes. When you make attempts to show how motivated you are at becoming a CRNA: get your CCRN, work in the ICU, shadow CRNAs, obtain strong rec letters - your overall GPA may not hold as much weight. That said, if your science grades are the grades that are pulling down the average, it may help your chances to retake some of them - further expressing your motivation for this endeavor.

call the schools that you plan on applying to and ask them. that is the best way to know that you are taking the correct course. i ended up photocopying the class description to the school just to make sure. for my school, they required a basic phys class - no lab. i ended up taking the 4 credit/lab class because that was all they offered.

not sure if you'd relocate... columbia has an accelerated program for individuals who already have a bachelor's degree who would like to return to school to receive a bachelor's in nursing. last year, 5 of these "ETP" students were accepted into the anesthesia program. They will graduate in May with their BSN, will work for one year in an ICU, then will return to their guaranteed 'seat' in the class for the following year. if you are interested: Columbia University in the City of New York. i think with your credentials you'd be a perfect fit for this kind of program. additionally, it is by far, the fastest route. you may even be able to do your ICU work back home in ohio. they have the security of knowing that they are already been accepted into the CRNA program

as far as i know, she just has nicu experience as an RN. I really like how Columbia's the program is front-loaded. We get most of the didactic portion out of the way at the beginning. I'm a commuter, as most of us are, and it is great that we come in only on Mondays, and Tuesdays. The classes are clustered so we have the rest of week to study. I haven't started clinicals yet but I hear the experiences are amazing and the students feel very prepared when they enter the "real world". As far as salaries - i'd google it and check around. I don't know off the top of my head. I can't even think about it - I just want to get through this program and then I'll worry about that later. as far as i know, the job market is very good. there will always be a huge need for anesthesia providers. I don't think there is any salary during residency -one of my classmates mentioned that he heard a rumor but i think it was a joke. We'll have plenty of time to make money later. for now, Sally mae is supporting us. I don't know anything about Suny. but each school has open houses that you could attend to ask questions. if you haven't worked on the unit yet, and you know that you want to become a CRNA (i'm assuming you have shadowed - if you haven't, i highly recommend that you do - make sure you know what you are getting yourself into!) - anyway, if you know that this is that path that you are leading to, I would prob go for a unit where you will learn as much as you can and get some really intense experiences. If I only had one year.. and I knew that this was what i wanted to do, I'd try to get some open heart ICU experience. it is NOT necessary for all schools, obviously, but it may help give you an edge; also, you don't want to put all of your eggs in one basket. other schools you apply to may not take nicu. (for example, suny may not -i have no idea, but you never know). okay, i have procrastinated way too much - got to get back to studying!

One of my classmates has only 1-2 years in NICU. She is doing VERY well so far - I think she is actually towards the top of the class. Personally, I had 4 yrs NICU and 1 yr PICU - no adult experience - and doing fine. As far as GRE's, I think > 1000 is the norm, however I'm fairly confident that if you have other positive things to strengthen your application, it MAY help decrease it's overall weight. i would still study and prepare for it as if it were the deciding factor - for many programs, depending on the competition for that year, it could be a source of weeding. If you have a powerful statement, and strong letters of rec, a good GPA, etc; that will def help. I think, don't know for sure, but CCRN, RNC doesn't hurt. Good luck!

there are 29 of us at columbia. i have no clue how many actually applied. but i think there are 31 or 32 clinical positions available for us. i'm going to guess that it is always subject to change year to year. don't be scared to apply. i almost didn't. if you really want it, just apply everywhere that is feasible to you. see what happens.

I am very curious/concerned about this too. We learned in Anest Principles that specifically, nitrous oxide is teratogenic in the first trimester - and at the beginning of the first trimester, you probably don't even know you are pregnant! Has anyone dealt with this situation at work? did you just take OB cases for the first trimester/or the whole 9 months? For many/most/all of us, life is on hold until we graduate - but then we start working... how do you handle this situation?

hi - i am in the early stages of my front-loaded program - so i know i have a lot of time to worry about this. But i was wondering how everyone felt right before starting their residencies - and how they were at the beginning - as far as clinical skills. Did you all feel confident about intubating, placing blocks, starting central lines/ a-lines - and if not at first - how long did it take before you felt better and were more accurate? As a nurse, my scope of practice has always limited me to peripheral IV lines. Of course, I realize the time will come in the clinical lab when we are taught all of these things and will have more than just ACLS to practice intubation - before ever entering the hospital. But I was just curious how you felt after your clinical lab time, before entering the hospital and after you were into the residency itself. Thanks!

woopsie - i think it was 8 weeks - but regardless, still a long time

Clinical at UMDNJ starts very early in the program - I believe in the first semester; That said, the process of getting a nursing license in NJ via reciprocity - can take an excruciating amount of time. My anesthesia director, who's original license was from NY, stated that it took 8 months to get a license in NJ! Imagine starting the program at UMDNJ and not being able to begin clinicals with the rest of your class because you didn't have a nursing license...

excellent recommendation letters help too. if you have a good repoir with one of your attendings or another CRNA, i'd speak with them about writing a letter on your behalf. A powerful statement of purpose is also beneficial. if you haven't already, shadow a CRNA, and describe your experiences - how it affected you, and further influenced your desire to pursue this field. Look at schools that have a lot of positions available. The schools that can accept a lot of SRNAs have multiple clinical sites where they can send their students for clinical hours - Many schools are especially competitive because they just don't have the affiliations with enough hospitals to provide the necessary clinical experience that are necessary to sit for the boards. Some CRNA programs are competing with medical programs (anesthesia residents) for learning experiences for their students.

Look to see what the requirements are for the school that you hope to eventually attend. I needed to take physics for acceptance into Columbia since it wasn't required during my undergrad. If not, see if the grad level genetics class would transfer at the schools that you would consider. If so, that would definitely lighten your load when you are a full-time student.

Thank you. I guess I'm just having the expected pre-school anxiety.

For those of you in school now, did any of you solely work in the NICU or PICU before school? How are you doing and handling your program? Do you feel at a disadvantage compared to your classmates that came from adult ICUs? I have a total of 5 years, but I'm starting to get nervous that I should have gotten some SICU (open heart) experience. I did some shadowing, and now I'm really freaking out. School begins in two weeks - I keep having these recurrent dreams (never ever had recurrent dreams before this). In the dreams, I show up for a final exam for a class that I didn't attend all semester, in other ones, i miss my bus, or I show up late, or without socks... I'm sure you're getting the underlying theme here.

so if anyone else was also curious - I called my school and got the answer. After we graduate, the school submits verification to the certification organization. Then when we receive the authorization to test from this organization, we schedule our test at a Prometric site (affiliated with Sylvan) as we all did for our NCLEX exams. They offer the exam frequently at different sites throughout the state. My school strongly reccommends that we sit for the exam sooner than later (within 1 -1.5 months of our last clinical.) I'm trying to get a lot of my wedding planning done before school starts - so I hope to have passed my boards well before November 14,2008!

This may seem like a silly question - Does anyone know when we take boards if we are graduating in 2008? For example, I will graduate in September in 2008. How would I found out when the boards are; or is it like NCLEX where you get the verification in the mail from the state and you just make an appointment with a Sylvan center?

I took the class and I thought it was a great review of all the sciences - and introductory anesthesia concepts. I felt the organic chemistry was the most challenging part of the course. At the end of the course you also get to see how your scores compared with the other students. At least, this is how the course was for me two years ago. I would recommend it - it's a nice refresher that can help get you back into school mode.

an old friend from work is finishing up the barry in may - she loves it. i also did my shadowing with a barry alum and i was very impressed. i was supposed to begin their program in january - but i got engaged and he couldn't relocate from NY to Miami. so i applied to columbia and that's where i'm going in may. otherwise i'd have started that program this past january. they have a great reputation in florida - (at the least, very well known and respected in the orlando area where i first learned of the program when i worked in the NICU there). they take 80+ students because they have a huge amount of clinical spots. good luck in your endeavors!

Sorry for the delay in the reply - just got back from vacation - probably my last one for awhile. I would absolutely love to specialize in pediatrics, but I want to keep an open mind. I know that once I begin my clinical rotations, I may really enjoy working with a completely different population. For instance, one of my old NICU friends will be graduating from Barry this May, and she really enjoyed her OB rotation, so you just never know where we'll end up.

RN, neonatal CCRN, and BSN from The College of NJ (Trenton State); I worked in 3 NICUs over the course of 3.5 years and 1 year of PICU. Initially I was really concerned about getting into programs without adult ICU experience. I went from NICU to PICU which I felt really helped me. The patients we see range in age from 0 to 23, even 24 on a rare occasion. I'm so glad I made the switch, although I missed my little peanuts, because I have already learned so much. Without my PICU experience I don't know how great a chance I would have had getting accepted there.

I applied to Columbia and UMDNJ Newark (I live in NJ). I was accepted into Columbia and I'm waiting to hear back from UMDNJ. I hope you hear some good news this week. Keep me posted. I know applications are a huge headache, but have you looked into SUNY- Downstate's program? Their deadline is March 1st. What is your nursing background?