Mrhanddiya

They may "want it", but they are not trained to be independent providers. Period. Besides, it will never happen and their national organization (AAAA) states that their benefit is always practicing under a physician anesthesiologist in an ACT. I feel bad for many AAs. What a depressing outlook to be tied to an ACT in only a handful of states for your ENTIRE career. Thank goodness I am an independent CRNA. I used to be an ACT and I left after a year. All MDAs wanted was for me to do what I was told, not think for myself, even if they were absolutely wrong. There is no dignity in that. No way I was gonna be a robot in a medical assembly line. If I were an AA, I would no doubt want independence. Unfortunately, the only way is to have a civil war and somehow cut ties to ASA. (I heard that Physical Therapist did this many years ago with the AMA). The only other routes are through Med School, or become a CRNA.

The truth is it's all about money and power. Period. That's it. Money and Power. A friend of mine has been an anesthesiologist for 30+ years and has seen and done it all with MDs and CRNAs. We have had plenty of discussions about these sdn threads and he tells me if you want to get right down to it, it is about the MDA's ability to generate money and be in a superior position. They cannot imagine it being any other way. Not as equals, and certainly not as inferiors. It isn't like that with all of them, but a good majority. It is not about patient safety, although that is the drum they constantly beat. Again, it is money and it is power. Bottom line is they feel it a duty to protect the profession and their status within it. Fortunately, as wtbcrna alludes to, most of it is left out of the work place and people get along. As an afterthought I've always thought it would be interesting to set up a study where you could randomly pick 30 anesthesiologist to monitor random anesthetist performing anesthesia not knowing whether the person they're observing is a CRNA or an MDA. And then have them try and pick out who is performing the anesthetic. I bet the results would be astounding.

These statements are 100% wrong, and quite frankly ridiculous.

VCU is good for regional. I believe Christian Falyer heads their regional education and he is a rock star. More specifically I would look more at schools who have sites where students can do regional. And when I say do it I mean actually do it. Not watch a resident or someone else do it. And not just a single shot block here or there. You want volume, and it is advantageous to do continuous caths. Unfortunately regional is one of the those things that MDAs try to limit CRNAs from doing. It makes no sense, absolutely no sense. Regional is NOT hard, but there are people out there who make you think it is a higher level of practice that only a select few are worthy to learn. WRONG! It is a skill like an epidural, spinal, or inserting a CVL.

As someone who has applied, interviewed, been accepted, graduated, sat in on admissions, been certified, and currently practicing I know somewhat about the process. I never said intubation/extubation wouldn't look good. I said "I doubt that more hours shadowing a CRNA would help. Intubations/extubations really are only a small picture of anesthesia." Shawdoing is good to a point, and intubations/extubations are good. It exposes you to the profession and it does show initiative. However pounding away on this is investing into something with low return. Very few applicants, including myself, fail to understand the full scope of anesthesia practice. Not only that but they don't even have the mental architecture to begin to understand what is really happening. I heard a nurse once say "anesthesia isn't that hard, all you do is sit at the head of the bed and turn the gas dial." On the surface this appears to be true. But does this nurse understand MAC values, or blood gas coefficients, or hemodynamic affects of differing gas concentrations, or the flow rates, or bispectral index and different depths of anesthesia. Nope. And when I even attempt to explain this I am met with a blank stare. So when you tell me you shadowed 50 hrs and intubated 10 people, hoping that makes up for a deficiencies in your application I think cool story bro. Its no different than telling me you turned the dial on a vaporizer. If you were to tell me that you intubated 10 times and each time went home and learned about the innervation to the airway, or denitrogenation, or FRC, or pair/unpaired cartilages, or a double lumen tube, or...you get my picture. I then would be more impressed. However, very few applicants have the mental architecture to understand these things. Intubation, although important, is a big whoopdeedoo to me because I know you have no idea what intubating really entails. I once thought the exact same thing watching IM residents intubate ICU patients. If you want to stand out on your application I would try impressing me with your ICU experience: your time as a nurse, your experiences managing sick patients, how you learned to communicate with other professionals, and how you pushed yourself mentally/emotionally/physically to become an excellent nurse. You may disagree with me on this but once you go through anesthesia school your mind will be enlightened and i guarantee your opinion will be closer to mine. Good luck.

I doubt that more hours shadowing a CRNA would help. Intubations/extubations really are only a small picture of anesthesia. If you haven't gotten interviews, your application is weak. You need either better grades, ICU experience, GRE, or references. On paper you are missing or deficient in something. Bottom line is when they are flipping through 100's of 10-page applications yours didn't catch their eye. It wasn't because you had only 10 hrs of shadowing instead of 50. No amount of hours of shadowing will make up for a weak GPA or minimal ICU experience. If you are getting an interview and getting rejected, most likely it is your personality or your "interviewing skills". Like OP said you must do a little self-reflection and then work on some weakness. I can spot a neurotic student interviewing from across the room. I wouldn't accept them no matter how great their GPA is. Anesthesia is HIGH stress and you are put on the spot in literally life-or-death situations. I want somebody who is calm cool and in control of their thoughts and emotions. Someone who can handle these situations and not lose their composure can easily get in with a less than perfect GPA. The interview is to help determine who is ready and who is not.

Wow! Great Job! What school asked you how "levo, vasopressin and neo worked at the cellular level"? For all of those interviewing, schools do this not because they expect you to know the answer, but because they want to see how you respond to a question they know you don't know. In anesthesia school this happens ALL the time. They want to see if you will try to make something up, spin it, or just humbly admit that you don't know. If you don't know, the correct followup is to say you'll look it up asap and get back to them (which you better do!).

"...the minimum one year of work experience in the ICU as a requirement for a CRNA program is daunting me." Really? You must establish a core foundation and 1 year is almost never enough. I can't think of a better profession for me than CRNA. It is amazing, but I'll be honest and say that you don't sound like you have a healthy respect for the sacrifice it takes. I know it's the internet and you wrote in a forum and we really don't know you and you don't know us. But honestly the feeling I get from your post is one of expediency and convenience rather than perseverance and sacrifice--2 of many qualities necessary to become a good CRNA. I would say find a CRNA in your hometown and sit down and really talk to them about the profession, what it took/takes, and then share with them your concerns.Good luck to you1

The only class you can take is the George Mason class that is in my previous post. I would definitely do whatever you can to take it early. Hours of clinicals depends on your rotation and site. I'd say across the board average is around 55 hrs a week not including call shifts. However some weeks you will be spending 80+ hrs in the hospital. Your schedule or hours may seem long but clinicals were really cool. Didactics were slow and painful, but clinical was much more enjoyable.

Okay, well unfortunately (or fortunately) GU did not allow it. The categorical point I'm making is that when OP gets to GU there are no 2nd chances if you fail. Maybe some other schools, but not GU. You (OP) need to bring your A-game from day 1. If you do this you will more than likely succeed and upon graduating will make a great CRNA. Good luck!

Just curious, what sciences would you suggest they study up on? And BTW I am not aware of any anesthesia program that allows transferring of science classes. It would be like signing up for the army and asking if you could take a personal training course down at the YMCA and have it count as basic training. Anesthesia school is a different ballgame. Everything is structured towards anesthesia and necessarily so. You are all in the same classes at the same time. You fail one class, you are out. No 2nd chances, ever. No retaking a class in the summer, no trying again elsewhere. At least that is how it was in my program. I did look at Rutgers and they apparently allow taking some classes before "semester 1". With that noted I haven't ever met anybody in school or graduated from school who said that prestudying was helpful. In fact I was discouraged from doing it by upperclassmen and others. Part of the reason was mentioned above by mansuko, and the other part is that you have no idea what is heavy and what is light. Why waste your time with figuring out how the sensory root of the pterygopalatine ganglion functions when you really need to understand roots, trunks, division, cords, and branches of the brachial plexus. You will never know this until you are in school. To me it just seems inefficient and ultimately the lease effective use of time. With that being said, you can do what you want. To the OP, there is one thing I forgot to mention. They do allow you to transfer in a Health Policy class from George Mason (or at least they used to). The class is HAP 605. I would do whatever you can to take it. It is cheaper, 1 week long, 2 papers for homework, and an amazing course. I thought I would be bored to death, but it was awesome. I just googled it and it is going from June 2-4. GU will allow you to transfer it in and used to encourage you to take it, but check with them. The only caveat is you don't get to transfer the grade in, just pass or fail (must get a B- to =pass). There were only ~7 people who took it in my class and the rest regretted it.

I graduated from GU and it is hard. Very hard. Program is front-loaded so most of my advice is based on that. Don't know if this is what you want to hear but here are some pro tips: #1) Don't complain. You will have plenty of reasons to complain, but there will be 5 people ahead of you already doing plenty of it. Just get in, do what they ask, and get out. One thing I learned there, is that they will never let the inmates run the asylum. In what little say you do have, make sure you elect a good class president-someone who is likeable and honest. He/She will be your class voice to the faculty. If you get somebody who is a pushover or won't represent the class accurately, you will be taking back-to-back-to-back exams in a week amongst other major inconveniences. #2a) You will have a research project that will follow you the whole 27+ months. Most people match up with "friends" they make in the first couple weeks. By the end of the first semester most people have migrated to different friends or study groups. Some groups can't even stand each other by the end of first semester. Make sure you group up with smart and reasonable people. 2b) One piece of advice that a senior told me was to pick a research subject that was simple and reasonable. You don't even have to like the topic-just make it simple. By the time this project wraps up in the 2nd to last semester you will want to wring your hands of it. So many groups in my class started off with grandiose topics but ended up with a HUGE headache. #3) Pre-studying, or whatever it is called, is useless in my opinion. I didn't pick up a single book. The only thing that may benefit you now is to learn to DRAW the brachial plexus. Go on youtube and watch the "draw in 10 seconds" or however short they've gotten it down to. Other than that, once classes start you will be digging further and deeper into A&P than any prestudying may do. #4) One of the most detrimental mentalities is to think "oh I didn't study that much for this exam and there really isn't much time. I'll just wing it and make up for it on the next exam". You cannot get behind. Don't ever get to this mentality or you will not make it. Exams and semesters get progressively harder, not easier. With that being said if you are an "A Student", be prepared to get a few B's. I remember a classmate in borderline tears after an exam saying "I don't get B's!!!" Haha, welcome to GU! #5) Some of your classmate will come with a superiority complex, and maybe even you. They will get humbled, and will continually get humbled. Just chill out and be like Fonzie...cool. You will be liked and life will be easier. Good luck!!!! PM me if you want more specifics.

After doing a little bit of googling, I will try to brake this down a bit. Let's say you graduated with a BS in art education. You teach high school for a few years and decide you are sick of smart-@## high school kids and you want to become a nurse (RN). Well you look into it and decide that perhaps, in addition to becoming an RN, you would like to be an NP, NA, or do another graduate nursing specialty (IMO most of the time this is rather presumptuous, but whatever). There are many programs that will accommodate this. Most of them are called direct-entry. Essentially when applying to the accelerated portion you can apply for the graduate portion too. Based on your academic performance of your previous BS in art ed. and your nursing prereqs, and I'm pretty sure some other stuff, they will save you a spot in the graduate portion when you have met all the requirments. Since you already have a BS in something else you enter into the accelerated BSN portion and within approx. a year you graduate with a BSN. After that you work, get experience, and when you are ready (or qualified) you can go back and start without having to reapply. Applying to CRNA school is VERY stressful and time/$ consuming so I guess getting into the direct-entry would take that away. As I stated before from what I know there are many direct-entry programs for specialties other than NA, but direct-entry NA is rare and what I know difficult to get into. Hope that makes sense.

From what I know Penn, Columbia, and until recently Georgetown. You can do a google search, and it will probably give you a better idea.

NHGN- "She has some medical science-related BoS degree from an average school..." "Meanwhile, I'm working my butt off in my first year in the SICU and I feel a bit...... I don't know what....jealous? Outraged?" "I know they have "a year of critical care experience"in there somewhere - but what the heck does that mean?!" "She'll be done way before me, and the thought of becoming a CRNA just crossed her mind after other things didn't pan out." These are your words, not mine. I apologize if I misunderstood the tone of your post. I will just stick to your questions. "...Am I being a snot about it and should I just be happy for this person?" Yes and Yes.