NurseLay

Sounds like my situation, but on the West Coast. My son will remain with his Father while I attend school in Northern California (about a six hour commute). It's a very hard decision. We are originally from the East Coast and I actually have a friend going through Georgetown's program now and I worked as an RN at VCU. VCU is a great school with a great medical center with equally great staff. If you decided to commute, the commute from Richmond to NOVA is not that bad, just know, you will HAVE to dedicate your time to studying during the week. I wish my commute would only be about 2 hours, but it isn't, and I DO plan on studying my butt off during the week so I can dedicate time to my son and husband every weekend. We do what we must. In the long run, it's what you are willing to sacrifice and whether or not you will be able to live with the decision. Regardless of what you decide, congratulations, you will be a CRNA either way! ~NurseLay

Why would someone say yes to practicing with you if you have no training? It seems like you are seeking replies to help boost your self confidence. I say, sit down and evaluate whether or not CRNA is what you want to pursue, and if so, do a SELF evaluation of whether or not YOU think YOU are ready. If you do, apply, if not, then don't. Also, you can always contact the program directors directly and ask for a meeting, send in your transcripts for evaluation, and discuss your potential future in the respective program.

It's possible. I am going back this Fall, I have a car note, I have a two year old and a spouse who has a year left before finishing school. I already have about 40k in undergraduate loans. Do I think it is worth it, absolutely.

Thank you everyone. Marycarney, I saw that site but I wasn't sure they were a legitimate site. I'll check them out again. Did you use them and pass?

Hi all, I am looking for any study tips and/or resources that may be useful to begin studying for the CCRN exam! A co-worker of mine let me borrow her binder from a review course she took, but her notes aren't legible and it bothers me to look at highlighting that has been done by someone else. What have you all found useful for the CCRN and about how long did you all study? Thanks in Advance!

My friend just got a position as a new grad at Centinela (spelling?) and she started at $28 and some change which is great because I have 3 years of experience and only make $31 and some change at my children's facility.

Thank you for this post. Most recently, I've looked at obtaining a master's in nurse informatics and then thought that maybe that was too specialized and decided to look at health information management. How long have you been in this field? I stopped looking at nursing informatics because while researching jobs it appeared that most were only temporary jobs and my fear is to get an advanced degree and then have to go back to the bedside once the job is no more. Any advice?

I have an INTJ personality and go back and forth and become easily bored with things as well. Nursing is a task oriented field that is very repetitive. I have no clue what I am going to do. I suggest you shadow a CRNA prior to applying to deciding on whether or not it's what you really want to do. When I was in nursing school, I loved watching the epidurals being placed and just the entire process of it was exciting and the fact that with one simple mistake you can either help or harm a person got me going about the profession. However, I shadowed a CRNA in the OR and was bored out of my mind. It was intubation and playing around with the anesthesia machine. I found myself trying to peek behind the curtain to look at the surgery. I say I am going to shadow again in another hospital because where I work CRNAs don't do OB, just OR mainly. I consider myself a lost soul and have no clue what I am going to do in the future, but I know I am ready to start school so I can get the heck away from bedside.

Virginia. And yes really, it's horrible. It amazes me when I see all the posts with RNs making 30 an hour partly bc a co-worker of mine has been a RN for at least 25 years and she only makes about 32 an hour.

I've been working as an RN for 2 years and I definitely don't make that kind of money!! I make 22/hr. I'm a BSN prepared nurse and work in an ICU. I live on the east coast.

I just finished Chamberlain's RN-BSN program and it wasn't bad at all. Besides the nursing courses I took Soc, Econ, and a residency requirement course of my choosing. The capstone course isn't bad at all in case any of you were wondering. Good luck to you all.

Sometimes you can access the devry courses prior to the chamberlain courses. Give it a few days and then try.

A regular OR nurse can become credentialed in first assisting. There are programs out there and an NP can also become an RN first assistant.

Thanks for taking out the time to respond! I really appreciate it. I shadowed and they only had 10 patients and I was bored, but I was told that since June they have been full with 19-21 patients and all of the things you described. The only thing is that they do not take cardiac drips or anything for HTN, and I forgot to ask what do they do in a situation where someone goes into an uncontrolled afib rhythm or something like that. Anyway, I am planning on shadowing again and hopefully the next time I'll see some excitement. Thanks again for responding!

Hi all. I'm thinking about applying to a BMT unit. I heard that it was drawing labs then repleting the entire shift. I'm sure there is more to it then this and that the patients are very sick or else the unit wouldn't have an ICU ratio. Can you all just give me an overview of your responsibilities? Thanks!