one_crna

A few things to think about when choosing a school: Major factors 1. Do you want a front loaded (~12 months of classes followed by 17 months of clinicals) or integrated program (start clinicals right away at the beginning of the program)? 2. How many clinical sites will you go to and where are they located. Less clinical sites (8 up to 12+) means you will be exposed to a lot but have a much more difficult time getting into a rhythm. You also have to put a ton of energy into learning the system, personalities, etc that doesn't necessarily translate to learning more about anesthesia. Also look into travel distances as some may be significant which will cut into your study time. 3. Does the hospital have an anesthesia residency? If so, how do they guarantee that SRNAs get the experiences they need. Ideally, you find a place with high acuity of patients/cases and no residents. 4. What type of degree do you want? MSN, MSNA, MS biology, MAE (masters of anesthesia education) or do you care? 5. Philosophy of program: support students versus weed-out 6. How many students are in your class and does the school have enough clinical sites to support all their students (read: one student per case) 7. Find out who is going to provide a majority of your clinical instruction. Are you going to work primarily with CRNAs or docs? Will you be paired with a CRNA or used as free labor with minimal instruction from an anesthesiologist? I went to a school where I had a ton of one-on-one instruction from amazing CRNAs who valued the art of anesthesia. Because I got to know my clinical instructors so well, I had a ton of independence my last year but still had them available to me if I needed help. Other factors: 1. Tuition costs and value of education. 2. Name recognition of program - this may or may not matter to people but ultimately it does matter where you went to school on some level. 3. Cost of living in area 4.

How can the statistic be skewed? It is from the CCNA based on the actual data. The truth is that if you are passing free and clear you will get 100 questions (likewise completely failing, you will get 100 questions). Almost everyone in my class got 100 questions and we all passed. A program where nearly everyone gets significantly more than the minimum questions may reflect on the quality of their preparation. It also sounds to me like more programs are having problems with an increase in failures over the past year or so (read: I believe the exam is more difficult in '08/09 than it was previously).

If you verbally committed to two years then you should finish your commitment. Most all programs will want a recommendation from your nurse manager. If you don't have one, it may be a bit of a red flag. Also, when I was applying for my first job as a CRNA, my boss called the manager of my old unit - don't burn your bridges!

Let me just say that the GRE is one of the easiest steps in becoming a CRNA. If you really want it, you will gladly cut off both legs and trade them for a Kaplan test prep course and 3 months of studying to get a decent score.

I believe that Akron had a significant number of board failures last year. Might want to check.

1320 is really good. I think for CRNA programs, anything above ~1250-1300 is likely to significantly boost your application. >1300 may help an admissions committee forgive a number of "sins".

I think many CRNAs are doing OB except in some teaching hospitals (and a few other situations) where the anesthesia residents need the cases for their numbers.

Why is everyone so obsessed with dodging the GRE??? In my road to becoming a CRNA, this was an extremely small hurdle to jump over. Spend the $1000, take the Kaplan course, and put the three months into studying that you should. I think that every program should require the GRE, if only to indicate that applicants are really serious about wanting to go to anesthesia school.

It's very curious that Sumner hasn't updated their website to reflect the COA's decision. Anyone visiting that site would get the impression that they were actively seeking accreditation, not that they were just denied.

Hi. There are some programs (a few?) that will accept NICU experience for the 1 year in acute care experience however, you will definitely be limiting the number of schools you can apply to. Experience as an OR nurse, may help you decide if you like the OR environment but probably will not be of any help getting you into anesthesia school. Some type of adult ICU experience will definitely give you the most options in applying to schools. Depending on what your goals are for the OR, you may want to consider making the move to ICU sooner than later (like now!). I'm guessing if your OR job is going to spend a year training you, the aren't going to be too excited to have you leave shortly after that time. If I were you, I would shadow a CRNA for a week, decide if you are interested and then go to adult ICU. I do have one friend who went to anesthesia school with only NICU experience. Good luck!

You should definitely check out the CRNA route. Find someone to go and shadow. I felt the exact same way when I was an ICU nurse. I feel much better about what I do on a daily basis for my patients.

I am going to respond to this and then I'm done with this thread and possibly this board. #1. Don't tell me "not to be like that" and that my conduct is unbecoming only to proceed to insult me personally. You are the one who is about to bend over for the next 2.5 years, I'm done with that. #2. I'm all for people only getting accepted with GPA's greater than 3.8 and GRE >1300. I would have been accepted under those criteria. I'm not going to even respond to your ridiculous comment about how many year it took me to become a "capable enough professional." I will say that when I was an SRNA and CRNAs/MDs asked me about my nursing background, I was proud to tell them what my experience prior to anesthesia school was. #3. FYI...my undergrad GPA was 3.85, GRE 1360, CCRN, ACLS, PALS, code team, 5 years high acuity ICU in world class institutions, published research, professional practice, etc. Just 4.0'd anesthesia school and got the minimum number of questions on boards. Now I'm getting my a** kicked in my first job as a CRNA. The more you have to draw from, the better off you'll be.

Transfer to ICU, work on certifications, and start looking for programs that offer a post-masters certificate option. Trust me...you don't want a second MSN (duplicate course work, cost, etc.). You also may not be eligible for a second MSN depending on the institution - one of my friends ran into this and had to go for the post-masters certificate (which worked better for her anyway).

Let me clarify...I personally think that ~2 years critical care experience should be the minimum prior to starting a program thus if someone wants to interview with 1 year experience, I wouldn't be entirely opposed (as they would likely be close to 2 years when starting school). I am opposed to a new grad RN with no other healthcare experience starting school with only 1 year experience because that is not enough time...regardless of how smart you are/hard you work. In addition, many ICU orientation programs for new grads are now 3-9 months long thus an individual starting anesthesia school with one year experience, may only have 3-9 months of independent decision making experience. AANA has the one year minimum and I respect that because someone may have been a paramedic for 9 years prior to becoming an RN, etc. Yes, these things should be left up to admissions committees however the number of spots in anesthesia school has doubled since 2001 - thus it is much easier to get into school now than it was 7 years ago. Some schools have a plethora of very qualified applicants and others, obviously, not so much. Higher education in this country is a business and schools have pressure to fill their slots for tuition dollars. It is the job of all CRNAs to show a vested interest in the type of applicants who are being accepted to schools and the quality of graduates who are being produced.

I am a CRNA so I feel very qualified to comment on this. I've made a number of good points on this thread that haven't been responded to with anything of substance. How can someone defend starting anesthesia school (or even interviewing for school) without enough hours to sit for CCRN? How can someone who has less than one year of independent decision making taking care of critically-ill patients be so sure they've learned it all? The lack of self-awareness from many of the "nurses" posting on this thread is really shocking. By saying that you learned everything you need to know about ICU in . Sorry but you won't have virtual hugs or high-fives in the OR - only your skills and experience to get the job done.