MethaneMan

I'm in at Wesleyan with a clinical site of JPS in Ft Worth. Look forward to meeting you in person, Goose.

Sure, go for it. I have always thought that Med School and residency is a poor value for the money/time commitment that is required to attain the ability to make a living. The CRNA school route, in my opinion, is the way to go. You will be out far less money/time and will still be able to practice anesthesia independently. However, in your instance, you have to decide if the bird in the bush is better than the bird in hand.

I don't have a problem with "wasting time" being used to describe a clinical experience other than ICU for an aspiring crna student. It is the man's or woman's opinion. If time is of the essence for the individual then, in fact, time is being lost if application prerequisites are not being actively pursued. Look, ICU work is not brain surgery or rocket science (as the saying goes). It is demanding, requires attention to detail, and (here we go again) in my opinion usually attracts nursings best and brightest. If you want to be a crna, then you damn-well better be among the best and brightest. So, if that is certainly one's future, then the ICU should be no problem. As well, if you are pursuing an ICU gig for the hopes of landing a coveted crna school seat, you should be looking for a high profile trauma center/teaching center gig. As most of us know these places are usually into gaining Magnet nursing status if they don't already have it. That being the case, the inexperienced ICU new hire will be going through a comprehensive orientation process. Again, for the sharp individual, this should suffice in preparing a nurse to be at least average starting out. I have worked with many ICU nurses that have made a career of being average and there is nothing wrong with that. I say all of this with the background of a six year ICU veteran and will be starting crna school myself this fall. Here it is...my final opinion...go find an ICU job if you are sharp, motivated, and focused on becoming a crna in a timely fashion!

ICU experience. Do not even mess with OR or stepdown. I have always been a big believer that if you want to work ICU, get an ICU job...or in this case, if you want to go to CRNA school, get an ICU job. It is the gold standard for the experience requirement.

An RT can get into crna school...only if they are also an RN with at least one year of ICU NURSING experience. I work with a couple RTs that are also in school to get their BSN with the goal of applying to crna school after they get their ICU nursing experience. This may be what the RT students in question were referring to. Unless they were totally oblivious of the process to become a crna in which case they will figure it out once they have A.) been educated on the process or B.) been educated on the process after wasting a good chunk of their time spinning their wheels.

91Charlie, you may also want to consider applying to Texas Wesleyan. They admit the largest class in the country with a class historically the size of between 120-150 students, they have a clinical site in L.A. @ Arrowhead Medical Center (actually in Colton, CA), and they have a distance learning option. Their program is frontloaded with the first year being classroom work. I know they require at least one year of critical care experience within the last 3 years and they do not consider PACU or ER critical care. Anyway, don't know if you have researched this program...just another option that could possibly keep you at home.

You do not need a BSN to go to CRNA school. You could get an Associate's degree in nursing and with your existing Bachelor's degree you could, theoretically, get in with one year of ICU nursing experience. I believe I am correct in saying that most of the 109 crna schools out there state that a non-nursing bachelpr's degree is acceptable. You should, however, check the criteria for the school(s) you are interested in. Unless you are able to receive some special consideration from a specific school, your ICU experience as an RT will not satisfy the one year requirement...but it will make you look more attractive come interview time. You need the year of ICU nursing experience to hopefully put your hands and brains on some hemodynamic monitoring devices, vasoactive drips, and to gain some familiarity with the management of patients that are sicker-than-snot. Hope this helps.

Personally, I woudn't go off and retake everything. My transcripts looked much the same...horrible when I was 18, 19, and 20...followed by some "maturing" years in the military...followed by decent ADN grades...followed by stellar BSN grades. The progression as a student and adult learner showed and I recently was admitted to a crna program. I would instead concentrate on strengthening other areas, i.e. ccrn cert., taking a graduate level science course to further display your improved academic ability, and shadow days with a crna. Hone your interview skills, because that is where you will make your impression. Some schools post in their admission criteria that they give deference to more recent coursework. I would go through the laundry list of schools on the aana website and seek out those schools that advertise this and I would certainly apply to them. Also, you can pretty much figure that everyone will have good references. So, unless your good reference comes from someone within the program you are applying to, I don't think you can hang your hat on references.

Sounds like you got'em lined up SLE...now all you have to do is knock 'em down! Just keep a positive attitude, be confident, allow your personality to show in the interview, and above all let them see that you have a brain in your head and you can think under duress. Make your nervousness work for you and convince yourself that you are merely excited to be there (a little trick I played on myself!). Good luck...maybe we'll be classmates this year.

It went very well, I got accepted at my interview. The interviewers were great and really tried to make it as laid back as it could possibly be. It was 45 minutes long and about 15 minutes were "get to know you" and the rest was clinical questioning. I feel the keys are showing them that you can think (in lieu of reciting answers like you are reading them from a textbook), how you handle the stress of the interview, and exuding confidence. Good luck and let me know how it goes.

I think it is great that you are already interested in this career. With hard work and the right steps taken, you could become a CRNA by the age of 26. Just curious, how did you become interested in nurse anesthesia so early? The first thing you will need is to get a bachelor's degree in nursing and along the way make sure that you take an organic chemistry class even if your curriculum doesn't require it as well as a statistics course. Most BSN curriculums will give you the other academic requirements that any crna school would require. During school do your absolute best to knock out A's in every class you can. It is not necessary to have a 4.0, but the admissions process is very competitive and every step you will take along the way can help your cause. Here is a link to every BSN program in the state of Texas: Texas Schools of Nursing A bachelor's degree from an accredited school of nursing is the important thing, but I remember seeing that UT-Austin was ranked in the top ten by US NEWS a few years ago. Once you have graduated, begin studying for the GRE and take it as soon as you are ready. This is a requirement and the better you do, the better chance you will give yourself of getting in. Also, once you have graduated, you will need to have at least one year of experience working in an adult ICU. This is a very important part. This is where you will begin to learn to manage critically ill patients and you need to make sure you are taking care of the sickest of the sick. My personal opinion is to make sure it is a Level I or Level II Trauma Center at a teaching hospital. There is nothing wrong with private hospitals, this is just my opinion. This is also where you will learn the brunt of the information you will need to be armed with during your crna school interview. Along the way, it will also help if you attain your CCRN (a specialty nursing certification). It is not necessary, but it will build your resume and actually TCU (and a few others) require it for their application process. Here is a link to all the crna programs in Texas and you can also navigate to other states from this link as well: Accredited Nurse Anesthesia Education Programs I would recommend you go to the websites for a few of these crna schools and review their requirements for admission. Most of them require the same stuff, but with minor differences. Getting it right early will make it easier for you later. Good luck. I think it is great that you are considering this so early. Focus in on your goals and make sure you have some fun along the way.

Accepted to Texas Wesleyan for Fall '07...woohoo!:biere:

Correction...there are four CRNA programs in the state of Texas (five if you count the Army's program in San Antonio). Texas Wesleyan, UTHSC-Houston, Baylore and TCU. Also, Wesleyan is reasonably priced with a total cost of $42,000 (that includes EVERYTHING). As well, the sales tax in Texas is anywhere from 7.5%-8.25% depending on where you are at...I think you will find that to be similar to anywhere else. Property tax I cannot refute as I sent a check for $5,200 last week to the taxman. Also, salaries for CRNAs are notoriously on the high side in the state of Texas. Check out "gaswork" if you need more proof.

I think the other thing to consider here that has not been mentioned are personal tendencies and "money smarts". One person may be able to get by on a $50,000 loan because they cut back in every area, while another may take out $100,000+ because they refuse to cut back on "lifstyle". As well, some people die with their debt because the suddenly larger salary after school drives them to immediately become extravagant instead of doing as they said and "quickly paying off their loans". I firmly believe that most people who live beyond their means with a smaller income will only increase their lifestyle and continue to live beyond their means when they attain a larger income...and in the end have only accumulated more debt instead of more wealth. My ten cents...take it for what its worth.

Well said...I do think you got your point across. As for deployments, that is a fact of life in today's military. You should expect them. There is a reason the Army's program is ranked 2nd and the Navy's program is ranked third. You get excellent training and they have been educating CRNA's forever.