Lissa160

Check out the Hutchinson Community College online RN to Paramedic bridge course in Hutchinson Kansas. All the classes are online and you can either set up clinicals in your area or set up blocks of clinical time in Kansas each semester. I went through it and about 1/3 of our class was from out of state, we were great about sharing hotel rooms and staying with our classmates who did live in Kansas to save on cost. It's a great way to facilitate the transition & it's a regular accredited program through a brick & mortar college.

Thank you so much, shandsburn-CRNA, that's precisely what I was looking for. I think I am a well-rounded overall applicant if they'll consider that, particularly considering I've pulled off good grades the last few years while being a single parent to a young child as well as working 48-72 hrs/wk. I feel my GRE is competitve, but I'm somewhat scared I'll be up against young nurses who didn't have families and jobs during school and thus a 4.0 was more easily attainable. However, my son will be 9-12 by the time I'm in grad school, I'll have a live-in nanny, and I don't plan to work at all either. We get "pimped" by our CRNA's also and I no longer find it intimidating. It's a chance to figure out what I don't know and to maybe think outside the box a bit. They have gone from encouraging me to apply as a medic to practically insisting on it and grilling me when they see me in ICU also, so I think that's a good sign, we really have a great group here and I trust their judgement of whther I can make it through school well. I kept my medic status to myself most of the time during nursing clinicals and found that worked well, but like you said, it would be a matter of feeling out the preceptor. I imagine they can tell by technique and comfort level if you've had experience also. As far as attitude, I'm a pretty upbeat person, but when I want something, I go get it. I've never wanted anything more to get into CRNA school, so I'm sure that'll show. There's not much of anything that gets me down, so I imagine whatever they can dig up to throw at me, I'll work that much harder with a bigger smile on my face and say "bring it on!" Thanks a ton! :)

I realize the experience gained from ICU, like I said, they are just different experiences that, having done them both, I feel are equally valuable towards crna for different reasons. Paramedic work and the autonomy and skills involved in the field environment are entirely different from that of ER nurses. I will have the required ICU experience- 1 yr by application and 2 years by matriculation. My gpa I feel could be better as I sit with an overall of 3.3 and 3.6 for my last 60cr. My first BS was in physics & chemistry (a fairly long time ago), so it was lower than my second BS or my nursing gpa an that young mistake brought my overall gpa down. I am still considering an MSN to boost my gpa, but I'm trying to decide if it's really necessary or if I should just apply as is. If the ad-coms are only going to look at numbers and nursing, I see the value of having a high gpa through an MSN. If they will look at my accomplishments as a medic as well, there are publications, teaching, and other things that will help me on that end. I am definitely teachable. We spend time every year with crna's doing RSI and intubation practice in the OR and I'm always open to correction or new techniques- it seems like each new round of fresh crna's has something new to teach and I really enjoy it. I love to learn and I teach as well, so I understand needing to be a blank slate as a student, I'm not one who's set in my ways and I recognize that medicine is ever-evolving- there's always something to learn.

I am a 10+ year paramedic who used to do critical care transport (I still do occasionally). I'm now an RN in ICU (first year) and anticipating applying to CRNA programs next year. I understand that programs are looking for ICU nursing experience, but I am also wondering how favorably (or not) my paramedic experience will be seen by ad-coms. In my nursing clinicals and my experience, many nurses see paramedics as "ambulance drivers" when medics actually do a lot of stabilizing and management of patients in critical situations, not to mention vents and balloon pumps and the many drips on critical care transports (you would be amazed at how much goes wrong once you hit the most rural area possible riding in the back of a truck with a patient who was "stable' in ICU and is then decides they don't like the rough ride). In my opinion, having done both, my EMS experience has giving me acute care experience that is invaluable, particularly with performing and teaching advanced airway skills, RSI, 12-leads, etc. I also have gleaned an entirely different set of knowledge and skills from the ICU and managing critical patients for a longer period of time, but I don't see either experience as being superior to the other. I am hoping that my paramedic experience will make me a better CRNA candidate, as my gpa is on the weak side and I'll only have the minimum nursing experience. Are there any former/current program directors who can lend me some insight into how my experience will be viewed by the people who really matter- the ad-coms?

The Hutchinson Community College ADN online paramedic-to-rn bridge program in Kansas is excellent with many students from out-of-state. Not very time intensive and only requires 1 year to complete, with only a total of 25 days in clinicals (these can be arranged near you if you can get the paperwork and find a MSN willing to precept you). Clinicals can be grouped together within a semester so you can go for multiple days in a row and get them knowcked out quick. We had great NCLEX pass rates and the total cost of the program was less than $5,000. Mostly paramedics (probably about 30 medics and 10 LPN's). I would highly recommend this to any medics out there wanting to transition. All prerequisite courses should be able to be done online through them as well, but I'm not entirely positive. I took one pre-req through them and it was super easy (at least for a me as a 10 yr paramedic with a BS in biology/psychology). The more experience you have on the road, the easier it will be, but keep in mind that nursing is nursing, not medicine. Almost all the medics struggled with the coursework and clinicals because the basic philosophy of the nursing pathway is so different from the fundamental pathway of medicine. As a medic, the fundamental medical knowledge should already be there, they just teach you to think like a nurse (more holistic and whole person nursing rather than medical and diagnostic treatment). I have to agree with funnski- the pay cut from a seasoned medic to a new grad is there, so keep that in mind, but that an RN is very valuable because it lends portability if you want to go further in school or change fields within nursing. Our medics also had a much easier time in the program than the LPN's did as well. http://cms.hutchcc.edu/hcc/home.aspx?menu_id=84&head_id=1466&id=1480&ekmensel=c580fa7b_84_100_1480_2