bman

How does Chamberlain (online ASN) work? Is it similar to Excelsior?

What school in particular is it? If I can become a RN in say 12-18 months then I would be willing to go the RN route. It just really seems silly to go four more years to get BSN when I already have a BS in cardiorespiratory care from the medical school here where I live.

Is there a CRNA school that will allow me to enter with a BS in respiratory and just either a diploma nursing or adn?

Just a outsiders view of the whole thing. Why in the world would any midlevel provider want to have all of this autonomy and basically be acting like a doctor. That is just extremely risky and I can promise you if and when the public is really and I mean really informed who do you think they will prefer as there provider? If you as a patient were given the opportunity to decide between a surgeon and an advanced practice nurse or any midlevel group and a doctor which one do you think would win out! I mean come on everyone why are you all pretending. Yes, you may have had a yrs. experience in the ICU but let me tell you from experience that don't mean jack compared to the rigors of a doctor, even the worst doctor has more education. 1 year experience in the ICU won't help one bit with a difficult airway which may have to be surgically obtained. Yes, you can maintain BP's in crashing patients but usually within a doctor ordered or hospital approved guideline, so the ICU experience although good and helpful does not make a midlevel any better than any other midlevel. I don't know why doctors have allowed this to go as far as it has because all they really need to do is to expose the public to how anesthesia is provided and that there are some instances where the is no doctor in anesthesia any where to be found for their surgery and I believe that would make a huge impact on this whole debate. It is a little silly to see some of the posts from nurses that think they can provide the same care as a doctor but even with studies do you think, I mean really, think that you are comparable to a physician! I have a lot of respect for nurses, especially those that have commited themselves to caring for sick patients and especially with the nursing shortages out there. But no midlevel provider should be doing anything to another human being without being supervised by a board certified doctor. Sorry for long post but lets all not forget how this all works or at least should work.

I am sure there are a lot of posts similar to mine but I have a major decision to make and I am looking for some advice from people that might have had a similar experience. I am a BS,RRT with 20yrs of ICU experience and have been recently taking pre med sciences (final semester) to take mcat and apply to med school. The problem is that I am 41 yrs old and have been weighing the options and am not sure if this is a reasonable goal. For years I have wanted to do anesthesia and even considered CRNA but when I compared the amount of time involved it was approx. same time frame as med school. Then I considered PA school but noticed that for all that is required and what you are responsible for that they are not paid enough for what they do. Finally I checked into AA school and that seemed like the obvious route with the least amount of time but I am so tired of all the issues with the MDA,CRNA,AA that I could just puke. So I am back to square one. My reason for being here and my question is would there be a way to do CRNA track by using my BS degree and ICU experience or would I have to start from scratch with a 4 yr BSN then 1 or more realistically 2+ yrs ICU experience. My problem is that nursing has not been something I have been fired up about because the way they get treated everywhere I have worked. I already get that kind of treatment in what I do now. I know you guys don't want to hear this but it seems that I would be being punished for not choosing nursing several years ago when I was not aware of all options then and wished I had but I am left with the hand I was dealt and AA would be best option (didn't say best profession). My goal has always been anesthesia (especially with respiratory background) but am looking for realistic route. Anyway, with all the turmoil and bickering in anesthesia it looks like the CRNA or MDA route would be the safest way because of the political reasons. Sorry for the long post but I was looking for some reasonable views from professionals.