TraumaNurse

As far as I know the only site that has students is Lovelace. I think there may also be rotations on some of the reservations in AZ and NM. If you are interested in ABQ or Santa Fe, the environment is not really pro-CRNA. It is very MDA heavy. The CRNAs are not given much autonomy and the pay is poor. Of course, if you are looking to work in a more rural area, then the pay is much better and you all the autonomy you could ask for (you are it!) I was considering going back to ABQ myself, but the job market was very disappointing. There are jobs, but the practice and pay are limited.

It makes absolutely no difference where you get your training as far as getting a job when your done. No one actually cares where you went to school. If you made it through an accredited program and pass the certification exam, you will be a CRNA and that's ALL that matters.

Your only limitations are those that you put on yourself. You are young and can do anything you want. The director of my old program started in the OR as a Scrub tech, Became and LPN, RN, then BSN, CRNA/MSN and soon to be PhEd. No, you are not thinking too big...go for it.

I work two 12 hr shifts (7a-7:30p) and two 8 hrs (7-3:30). My call requires a 48 hr in-house weekend every 7 weeks. (7a on Sat to 7a on Mon). I am only responsible for cases in the OR and intubations/codes on the floor. The Docs cover OB so MOST weekend nights I will get some sleep. I work for a great group and they pay me well, so I can't complain!

The interview at Our Lady of Lourdes Anesthesia program is now in panel format. They bring in each candidate individually to meet with the panel that consists of the Director and Asst. Director of the program, the Medical Director, the Director of Drexel's program and sometimes a couple more CRNAs or MDAs. They ask typical admission questions " Why do you want to be a CRNA?" ect. and some clinical questions on hemodynamics ect. Potential students then take an exam that is a mix of ICU type clinical questions. The exam is not really used in the decision unless they need a tie-breaker. The exam is really hard and most people do not do well.(which is expected) Then, candidates spend some time with a couple of student reps to ask questions and get the "REAL" story about the program. I spent the past 2 years as a rep. I think the program is as good as any. As with all programs, they have there weaknesses but also their strengths. You will get excellent clinical experience and become independant very early. THe CRNAs there are excellent and the Docs as well. They have added some new clinical sites which has improved the variety of experience and allowed them to accept more students. In my opinion, the biggest weakness is lack of good pediatric experience. I met my numbers but not by much, so I'm not that comfortable with kids. But overall, I felt I got an excellent education. I felt prepared for boards and passed without too much stress. There will always be people who love their program and others who hate it. If you keep a positive attitude and suck it up when things are going your way, you will do fine. So far, my class has a 100% pass rate on the boards! I can't complain. PM me if you have specific questions.

That's awsome, Vinny! Congrats! You had a great attitude towards the whole thing and it paid off...cudos!

Go straight to ICU if you can. Even if you are in a high acuity ER, you may limit yourself to which schools you can apply to if you have only ER. ALL schools accept ICU, not all accept ER. Getting the ER experience will give you no real advantage when you transfer to the ICU so go to ICU ASAP and get as much out of it as you can. Take classes, get as many courses and certifications as you can, become an ACLS instructor etc...gain valuable critical care experience and then apply to CRNA school.

Although this article had some valid points. I think they were WAY off base for most of the article. I think it's this type of poor journalism that puts a lot of misinformation out to the general public. Yes, drug abuse in anesthesia is a legitmate problem. But the article makes it sound like all anesthesia providers are junkies. This couldn't be farther from the truth. THey also go so far as to suggest that people "request" 80% O2 and 20% Nitrous in order to decrease PONV and to request ropivacaine instead of bupivacaine because it is less cardio-toxic. They also say people should request a skin test prior to any anesthesia to determine if they MAY have a allergic reaction to a specific local anesthetic. In my opinion, to suggest to a lay person what to request as their anesthetic is ridiculous and unsafe. Anesthesia providers spend years learning about physiology, pathophysiology, chemistry and pharmacology as well as ANESTHESIA. The trained anesthetist should be the one to determine the best choice of anesthetic for a patient based on each persons individual needs. If a person has a concern, they should speak with the anesthesia provider prior to surgery, not walk in there and make specific requests based on misinformation. I am writing a letter to Mens Health to suggest they be a little more careful in the information they are putting in their magazine. Although I don't take the material written in Men's Health as serious medical advice, many people out there may actually take it a little too seriously.

No CRNAs in Canada. Anesthesia in Canada is done by MDAs and GP's with special training in anesthesia. There is a huge shortage of anesthesia providers in Canada, especially in rural areas, and I know some places are looking at CRNAs as a possible solution. I read an article about the possibility of bringing CRNAs to Ontario but I think it is a long way off. Also, because the environmnet in Canada has been pro-MD and anti-advance practice nursing, I think it would be a tough sell. Autonomy and salary would never compare to here in the US. My advice, if you really want to be a CRNA, you could live near the border in Canada and commute to the US for work. Being Canadian, I had to decide whether I ever wanted to go back home before I went to CRNA school. Choosing a career as a CRNA meant I would most likely live here indefinitely. I miss home sometimes but have never regretted my decision.

I think the SEE exam gives you a good idea of where your knowledge base is. Our program requires us to take it but they also pay for it. We are enouraged to take it completely cold (without studying at all) to see where we are and where we need to focus. I did okay (considering I did't study and hadn't yet covered some material in class) but not great. It was helpful to show me where I was really weak. My SEE exam was really hard and so were the boards. I worked harder on my weak areas as determined by the SEE exam which did help me for my boards. I'm not sure if your results on the SEE are a reflection of how you will do on your boards but I think it is useful to help you study. A lot of the SEE questions were similar to the types of questions I had on my boards. I found both tests to be difficult. That said, there is NO stress involved with the SEE since it is no big deal if you mess up. The boards are a different story.....

Wow, more Newfies on the board! I graduated from GHSN in 1995 (I grew up in St. John's). Moved to Texas that summer and have lived in TX, NM, NH, MD and now NJ. I finished my BSN here in the US and just finished my MSN in Nurse Anesthesia.

jkid, If you want to be a physician, then plan ahead to do what you need to to get into med school. Find out from a career counselor what courses you will need to take to get you going in the right direction. At the same time. Do more research on becoming a nurse and then eventually a nurse anesthetist. That may actually be a more fitting career choice depending on what you want out of life. DO NOT plan on becoming a nurse as a stepping stone to becoming a doctor. They are two different vocations in the healthcare field.

Contrats!!!! My fingers and toes are crossed for the next couple of weeks!

Three of our CRNAs recently had babies (And yes all 3 were out on maternity leave at the same time!) They all worked as usual in the OR up until the last days of their pregnancy. No problems were encountered by anyone (except trouble lifting patients and pushing stretchers). They were sure to stay out of certain rooms (Like Ortho with bone cement mixing, radiology cases, mask GA cases etc). Statistically, I'm not sure of your increased risk and I not sure if there are any good studies out there, but anecdotely (sp?) of all the CRNA moms I know, no one has had any problems related to OR exposure. My point, as long as you are careful and avoid obvious exposures, you should not have any problems. Best wishes.

I'M DONE!!!!! Pass or Fail I took the certification exam today! Wooohooo! It shut down at 90 questions which I really wasn't expecting. I can honestly say I knew about 50% for sure. About another 25% I could easily narrow down to 2 answers and then had to make an educated guess. The rest was a crap shoot. I had to laugh at some questions because I had absolutely no clue as to where to start with the answer. My only hope is that some of those were the "tester" questions. Now the waiting begins! In 2-4 weeks, I will be either working as a CRNA or I will be studying to retake the exam. As for now, I can concentrate on doing some housework, landscaping, playing guitar, fishing, reading a book that does not include anesthesia in the title, working out, riding my bike and endless number of things that I have had little time to do. For anyone else about to take your boards, GOOD LUCK!!!

Ditto. We were in rooms solo from early in our junior year. Sometimes we had only 1 MDA assigned and they would be able to bill 100%. Sometimes they had to cover 2 students at a time. I know there were times when they had to "take a hit" on payment but they still needed to run the OR. We did occassionally have CRNAs assigned when they had enough bodies around. Obviously that is the best financial situation for an OR that has SRNAs when the MD can sign for 4 rooms.

Even if you find a program that offers part-time or online classes, it will only be for the Nursing classes. This will lighten the load a little, but it is still a full time 27 month committment no matter which way you slice it. My program has a post-masters certificate for NPs etc. We had a NP in my class but she still had the same work load as the rest of us, except for a few silly nursing classes. That said, I have always said it is about time management. I have 2 kids, and made it through CRNA school just fine. 2 girls in my class each had 4 kids and another had 3. We all made it through. I feel like I even spent more time with my kids in the past 2 1/2 years than I did working full time 12hr nights in the ICU. If you plan your time well, CRNA school is manageable and does not have to mean you will not see your family for 27 months. It's hard but doable. I suggest a smaller, hospital based program that is more personable than a large university center.

Hey Vinny, You have the right attitude. You can't change it now. You may well have passed and in a couple of weeks will have a hang-over in celebration. If not, you know what you need to do and will do it. You may have also been given a lot of the "tester" questions that do not even count towards your score. I wish you the best of luck and hope you will report back with good news soon. By the way, I take my boards on Thursday. I am a little more nervous now that I read you post since I have only read the "sweat book" twice and MM twice. I have one more day to review and then we will have to see what happens. I think a lot depends on the test you get on a particular day. I hope I have one of the "easy" ones. I have a big red "EASY" button to hit before I go into the test center...I hope it works!

Yoga, welcome back....I'm glad you decided to stick with us! AT, congrats. I always love seeing people who have been with the BB for a while progress through their program and become CRNAs! In a mere 8 weeks or so, I should be able to do the same...I hope! TraumaNurse

Congrats!!! I knew you you would!!!

I was a flight nurse with Lifeguard 1 at the Unversity of New Mexico. I will finish CRNA school in a mere 4 1/2 months. I miss a lot of things about flight nursing, but would not give up doing anesthesia for anything!

I'm sure you did great. After preparing like you did, and shutting off at 90...you'll be fine. For those very rare examples of people failing at 90 questions, I think you'll find they did not prepare very well. I just took Valley and have a lot of work to do myself before boards in August. I doubt I will get through valley 3 times, M&M and Baby Miller. I will be lucky to get through the sweat book and memory master once or twice with some references to other texts on occassion. Let us know when you get the good news! Most of my friends over the past couple of years had their results in about 10 days.

I was also interested in Colorado, but I think CRNA practice is pretty limited do to MDA control. I wanted to move to Fort Collins but when I contacted them, they have 40 MDAs on staff and 5 CRNAs. That will tell you something! I am learning that the nicer a place is to live, the more MDAs live there and keep CRNAs out.

We do a lot of hearts and use Iso exclusively both on the anesthesia machine and on the perfusion machine. Interestingly we also use pavulon which can be bad if you get the increase in heart rate. However, we attenuate that with a lot of fentanyl.

Hey gang, I went for a job interview last week and this place uses a double lumen LMA routinely for lap choles and other general lap cases. They even place them on a vent. with this LMA. I know places in Europe are using LMAs during mechanical ventilation, but I just don't feel it is worth the risk (especially with abdominal insufflation). Are any of you using this type of LMA for Lap procedures? This group was far too dictating of CRNA practice for my liking and I won't be going there to work, but I was just wondering what other people may be doing out there. I have not seen this type of LMA used anywhere else in this area.