may2kd

I just finished a contract at methodist main in the SICU in San Antonio. It was ok. The people were awesome, but the docs kinda sucked...very fastidious. My best night there I was floated to another hospital to the ED to take care of ICU patients. If you do work for the methodist system, be aware you can float to ANY of the methodist hospitals in SA. I was told to try Austin...more things to do, more of a city.

I got rejected once and denied interviews at 2 others. I was really upset at first, but then I knew I had to concentrate on my remaining ones. Everyone faces rejection, you just have to learn from them. I knew after the first one, that I was no where near prepared enough, so I rectified that. Of my remaining interviews I was put on the alternate list for one and got accepted into the second. By my 3rd interview, I wasn't nervous, we had good time, we all laughed together. I think nervousness definitely plays a part, because they want to see how you react to pressure...they know just how nerve-racking these interviews can be! Good luck with your second interview, I'm sure you'll nail it!

Spiderella, What do you mean about the cost of living index? For example, I'm moving to Raleigh, NC where the composite index is 104.8... Thanks!

I was exceptionally bored at my last assignment. When the head nurse asked if I was willing to renew, I had to politely say no. Like you, I like busy! Now, I'm taking a month off and getting back into the mix after new years. You can always specify with your recruiter that you want a higher acuity NICU. It's level 3-4 for NICU right?

If you really don't want to work for Kaiser, and that's all your company is feeding you...look at other companies. Your company may not have deals with all the hospitals that offer travel contracts. I definitely wouldn't settle for a contract that I don't want especially when you specifically said you don't want to work for Kaiser.

I found out the next day. I had to call them to change my address, so they offered to just read my letter over the phone. I got the letter on Friday.

Most of these questions are answered already in the Pre-CRNA forum, but here's my information. BS: Biology 2.8 with 3 years of undergrad research in pain sensitivity in neonatal rats BSN: 3.2 in a 2nd degree accelerated program GREs: verbal 600, math 570, writing 4 2+ years in SICU at a level 1 trauma center Certifications in PA Caths, VADs, CRRT, IABPs from my hospital BLS, ACLS, PALS CCRN My best advice to you keep working hard on your BSN. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't start off in the ICU as a new grad. Take 2 years (even though they only require 1) to get a good foundation in the ICU before going to anesthesia school. It really doesn't matter what type of ICU you work in, although most schools don't take NICU, PACU or ED. Only some take PICU. Take all the extra education certification classes you can, that way you can take the sickest patients (you learn more from them). I worked in a teaching facility, so I got to learn along side the residents because our attendings were awesome teachers. I applied to 6 schools, was invited to interview at 4 of them (only went to 3) and got accepted into at least 1. I'm still waiting to hear back from one of them. Regardless I'll start school in August 2009. Good luck with the rest of your school!

In nursing school half my professors said I needed to do a year of med/surg and the other half said it wasn't necessary. I decided to compromise and did a year of step-down. If ICU is where your passion lies (and I understand, it's mine too) then go for it. After my year of step down, I ended up changing hospitals, but I did a full 3 month orientation on the ICU. Talk to the head nurse on the ICU you want to work on...also if you signed a contract for a certain amount of time on your floor, make sure that time can be carried over to the unit. Last thing you want is to be in breach of contract and owe money even though you're still working in the same hospital. Good luck, ICU is the best! (but again, i'm a little biased ;-))

the survey: k.m. years in nursing_3.5__ years in critical care 2.5 what does the "culture" of critical care nursing mean to you personally? i think the culture of critical-care nursing is fast-paced with moments of extreme slow, and you have to be able to handle both. i think it encompasses the best of nursing---caring for loved ones while utilizing science and evidence based practice. it takes a skill level and a mind set that not every nurse has. in your opinion, what do you think are the barriers to open communication in this profession? i think the worst barrier comes when doctors don't realize how intricate a role nurses play in the care of the patients. that we're not "just the nurse", or handmaidens, that we actually do know things. we learn more in 6 months in an icu than they do their entire 4 years of medical school. what do you think could be done to improve communication between staff, physicians and families? i think it depends on the atmosphere and the level of education of the families. there are still a lot of people out there that look to the doctor for everything, that they are the be-all and end-all of healthcare. the public needs to better educated about the role of the np, crna, etc and then they may look at the staff nurse as more than the person getting their father some ice chips. also, physcians need to treat nurses with more respect. i think an open communication is key. families need to be able to ask questions without having physicians directly influencing their decisions-- i mean as joe friday says "just the facts, m'am". no false hope, no miracles could happen. if there's a 10% chance of recovery families need to hear that. i think that hinders communication. do you consider the icu to be a "high-stress" environment? why or why not? it is a high-stress environment, but i enjoy it. it's a place where life and death decisions actually are made. you and a team doctors are helping to decide the fate of your patients. with that said, it's also an awesome place to work, and i wouldn't work anywhere else as a staff nurse. i enjoy having 1-2 patients where i can spend my entire 12 hours reading the chart, and knowing the patient in and out. you can't get that involved on the floor. if you aren't good with stress, than it's not going to be a good fit. do you ever feel "burnt-out"? have you ever considered leaving the nursing profession due to stress or behaviors exhibited by others? i've only been a nurse for 3+ years, but i've never felt burnt-out. i've felt bored and because of that my work has suffered. i love everything about icu nursing. i have been accepted to crna school in the fall, so i'll be leaving bedside nursing, but not because i didn't love it. i love the icu. hey, good luck with your paper. hope this makes sense and it's ok!

As long as you get well-rounded experience, you should be fine. If 60-70% are vented, you should be fine. You'll get the vents, you'll get drips and you'll get the critical-thinking aspect of an ICU experience. I would take the MICU slot at a level one trauma center because you can always transfer to another unit within the hospital later.

Congratulations!!!!!! I know how good it feels to have that weight lifted off your shoulders!

sorry, didn't quite mean to post that yet! If you don't think you're ready for the ICU just yet, spend a year in step-down instead. That will at least give you the critical care aspect while you're learning how to be a nurse. That's what I did. But you need to do what's best for you. Congrats on passing your boards!

Jump in head first! If you want to end up in ED or ICU, why spend a year not doing that only to end up there later. If you don't think you're

I studied my ass off! Seriously though, I bought some books and studied with co-workers who were also trying to get certified. I bought PASS CCRN which has a good review of the patho if you need review, I bought the AACNs book with just questions and tests. I also bought Laura Gasparis-Vonfrolio's green book of questions and listened to her lectures on CD. They're like $200 but totally worth it. In the end it's really just taking the time to do it. If you work in a good ICU, odds are you do this stuff everyday. And that's what the exam is, stuff you do everyday. I know lots of people will tell you this, but it's true, it wasn't that terrible! Good luck and you should be proud of yourself that you're trying to increase your knowledge base with this certification...it's a really big deal.

Thanks everyone for the congrats...it's like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Good luck to those who are interviewing soon!

Most programs suggest you get your core courses out of the way before you start, such as theories of nursing, research, etc. Find out what the core courses are going to be, and get them done, even if you haven't been accepted into school yet. This will show the admission board that you are serious about anesthesia school and you can handle graduate level course work.

Found out this morning that I was accepted at Raleigh!!!! :)

Hey Kyle, I just shadowed at University hospital 2 weeks ago in San Antonio. If you call 210-567-4509 you can get in touch with the scheduling person and she can direct your call to one of the CRNAs on staff. Can't remember her name for the life of me, sorry. Don't know how easy scheduling it will be since you're not an RN already, but this should get the ball rolling. Katherine

We do our own CRRT from setup on. It can be frustrating at times, but I generally love it. We had a 4 hour class so we could learn all the pathophys and hemodynamics involved with renal failure and the ICU and when CRRT should be used,etc. It's a 1:1 assignment, even if they have other devices. I've had patients on CRRT, have a heartmate II LVAD, and a centrimag RVAD. Definitely keeps you busy, but I enjoy it.

The 2 people I know that got in the program were accepted before they went to Georgetown's undergrad program, contingent on getting ICU experience. They could basically choose when to go. One is in this year's fall class and one is waiting for fall 2009. I know a few others that weren't CCRN certified that got in no problems. One worked on my unit weekends during school because the PTB's decided a year into the program that the student's ICU experience wasn't strong enough. CNistler---what unit are you on? I worked 4G until September. :)

If you have 50 mL and the MD wants it to go over 1-2 hours, then just divide it. ie. 50/2=25, so 25 mL/hr will give it over 2 hours. So anywhere between 25-50 mL/hr will give the 50 mL over 1-2 hours. P.S. No question is dumb...the hospital I'm at doesn't have pumps that automatically do the drip calcs for you. Basically it's at a set rate, and you have to figure out how much of the drug you're giving on your own!

At Virginia Commonwealth University, they have one of the few DNAP programs, and it's only an extra semester tacked on to the original 7 for the MSA. We were told that you apply for the DNAP program in your first year of the MSA program and then you can actually work as a CRNA while finishing that last semester distance learning.

Actually, I think it went well. I was really nervous going in, but they really did a good job of alleviating the stress. I was interviewed individually by 4 people. Which is a lot different then my last one which included me and 15 faculty members doing a round-robin interrogation! Each interview was mostly get to know you questions. We discussed what I do to de-stress, my hobbies. I got the why do you want to be a CRNA question along with what have you done to prepare for it. What does your family think of you entering a dark hole for 2.5 years? :) Each one asked a clinical question--right off my resume, so if you listed it on your resume, make sure you know it! I got asked about the TandemHeart in one, another asked what I knew about cardiac output. In one interview, he said I had 2 minutes to teach him something (didn't have to be nursing related). In between each interview, you went back to the conference room. There were 6 of us interviewing with 4 people, so there were a couple of times when there was 2 of us in the conference room waiting. They pulled a couple of students to answer questions that we may have that we didn't feel comfortable asking the faculty, like what kind of PDA do you recommend. That was really it. Hope that helps! Good luck to the rest of you! --Katherine

Raleigh at 1:15 on November 5th. I'm from VA but flying in from Texas...took a travel assignment there.

My interview at VCU is friday...