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question for crna's Post #1 I shadowed a CRNA for a day and he stated thought a lot of his precepted SRNA's seem to be doing it strictly for the money and is amazed they get into programs with that attitude. Do any of you see that from students you precept? What are your feelings on this attitude on a personal level? ************ Money is certainly a big motivating factor for nurses who want to enter anesthesia school or want to become nurse practitioners. Who would want to be glutton for punishment if nurse anesthetists would be making the same salary as RNs who do bedside nursing? I graduated from anesth school in '94 and practiced nurse anesthesia for only a short period of time - 5 mos because I did not pass the CRNA Boards in June 1995. I never took it again because I felt so bad and so depressed about it. I was highly motivated strictly by money alone and nothing else really. I really like taking care of cardiovascular patients more than anything else in the world to which I have returned in 1995 until my recent disability for my knee probs. I cannot lift heavy patients anymore at this point in my career after 23 yrs of being an RN. I remember being shocked when I received my first paycheck as $5000.00 net (no kidding!), holy s--- !, because the bookkeeper made a mistake in payroll. I told my boss, one of the MDA partners about it who told me it was meant for one of the other MDAs in the anest group I was with at the time. I was very unhappy then because my mind was focused on the money issue alone. Being a CRNA is not easy. You will need a lot of energy, patience and endurance to withstand the rigors of this career. It is not meant for everyone. Read about it. Talk to a lot of nurse anesthetists about it and best of all get a job in PACU or the OR so you know what you're getting into before embarking into this career. I will be taking some refresher courses at a local graduate nurse anesthesia school and reviewing to take the CRNA Boards for the second time in nearly 10 yrs. But I'll be ok. At least I can pace myself with the clinicals and didactic. There are several hospitals here in Hampton Roads, VA including Portsmouth Naval Hospital in Norfolk, VA (excellent for regional anesthesia), Sentara Norfolk General Hospital (excellent for trauma anesthesia), Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters (for peds anesthesia), plus Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital and DePaul Medical Center BonSecours (for routine gen anesthesia, OBGYN, neuro, uro, ortho. plastic, ambulatory, etc.) where I can get all my clinical internship done again without pay. I don't want to say good luck to you because I don't believe in luck or fortune. Best wishes to you though and hope your dreams come true. "Money is not everything" according to one of my friends who is a surgeon. I answered, " for those who don't know how to shop!" :chuckle Nurse anesthesia is a very challenging and very interesting field. You'll never be bored in this career for sure if this is what you really want to do without focusing on the money aspect only. Remember to eat well, exercise, get as much sleep :zzzzz as possible (which is really hard to do when you're in anesth school -I used to drink 8 cups of coffee a day which was not a good example). Try to learn relaxation techniques like what has been posted by yoga crna in the past and you'll be just fine. Take care Tess

Sorry:o I knew there is something wrong:rolleyes: when I typed your name Take care Danielle.

This will probably help you Daniel. Take care and best wishes in your dream of becoming a CRNA. ************ failedGRNA wrote on 01-30-2004 04:31 AM: Hi Yoga You mentioned you still nurse practice anesthesia in one of your posts. How long do you intend to practice this profession? Thanks for the advise about Valley Anesthesia. My orthopod and another surgeon friend think the same way that I should put into practice what I learned considering the time, money, and energy spent in studying nurse anesthesia several yrs ago. I do not think I can go back to bedside critical care nursing after my knees took a turn for the worse with meniscal tear and DJD (osteoarthritis) recently. After I did not pass my board exam in 1995, I questioned God why I did not pass. I went into deep depression. Even then I went back right away to cardiac care nursing. In 2002, I was so determined that critical care nursing in the CCU will be my retirement job. I was so content doing it at that time Then something happened with my knee in 2002 and right now I am contemplating again about anesthesia. If you were me how would you go about returning to this field, Yoga? Go back to school again to take refresher courses? I feel so out of touch with the anesthesia world right now. Kindly tell me also 1-10 things that you love about nurse anesthesia and 1-10 things that you dislike about it at times with passion. I think I will change my name when I become CRNA. Thanks again for the reply. Take care and God bless FG aka Tess ******************* Tess: I am not sure of the process for getting back in the anesthesia mode, but I think you should start with the Council of Certification at AANA. They will give you some direction about the board exam, how to reapply, etc. Also, I think you should contact your school director and ask for some advise regarding what you want to do. Be prepared to ask for clinical time (without pay) and the opportunity to sit in on some classes and conferences. The AANA Continuing Education department may have information on refresher courses that may be available. Ten Things I Love About Being a CRNA: 1. Planning anesthesia technique according to the needs of the patient and surgery. 2. One on one patient care. 3. Making the patients' anesthesia and surgical experience good. This includes minimal post-op pain and nausea control. 4. Independent practice 5. The people I work with (great group of surgeons and RNs) 6. Not having to follow stupid nursing service policies. 7. Great income 8. Ability to have my own business 9. AANA (wonderful professional organization) 10. Knowing other CRNAs. We really care about our patients, our profession and each other. What I don't like. 1. The fact that we don't get the respect we deserve for what we do. 2. Having to justify our incomes. 3. Stress in difficult cases. 4. Surgeons and nurses who try to interfere with anesthesia (doesn't happen in my current practice, but did in the past) 5. Being tethered to an anesthesia machine in long cases. 6. Not much else, I really love this profession. Keep in touch and let me know your progress. I would be pleased to offer you moral support. Yoga

Thanks for the info Nilepoc. I truly liked the R & R Board Review because the two instructors Howard Armour and Chuck McCombs were like Mutt and Jeff. They were very funny and their methods of instruction were very helpful and concise. I did not fall asleep at all :zzzzz during the review course. It has been scientifically proven that the human brain retains well all information that target the emotions like sad, funny, frustating, angry, etc feelings . The reason why I did not pass the boards in 1995 is because of my own fault and not because of these guys. I'll take this course and the board exam again in jiffy when given the opportunity. Here's something for you and all SRNAs to read when the tough gets going in anesth school. Take care y'all! Tess ********* Robby's Night True Story Worth Reading!!! At the prodding of my friends, I am writing this story. My name is Mildred Hondorf. I am a former elementary school music teacher from Des Moines,Iowa. I've always supplemented my income by teaching piano lessons- - something I've done for over 30 years. Over the years, I found that children have many levels of musical ability. I've never had the pleasure of having a prodigy though I have taught some talented students. However I've also had my share of what I call "musically challenged" pupils. One such student was Robby. Robby was 11 years old when his mother (a single mom) dropped him off for his first piano lesson. I prefer that students (especially boys!) begin at an earlier age, which I explained to Robby. But Robby said that it had always been his mother's dream to hear him play the piano. So I took him as a student. Well, Robby began with his piano lessons and from the beginning I thought it was a hopeless endeavor. As much as Robby tried, he lacked the sense of tone and basic rhythm needed to excel. But he dutifully reviewed his scales and some elementary pieces that I require all my students to learn. Over the months he tried and tried while I listened and cringed and tried to encourage him. At the end of each weekly lesson he'd always say, "My mom's going to hear me play someday." But it seemed hopeless. He just did not have any inborn ability. I only knew his mother from a distance as she dropped Robby off or waited in her aged car to pick him up. She always waved and smiled but never stopped in. Then one day Robby stopped coming to our lessons. I thought about calling him but assumed because of his lack of ability, that he had decided to pursue something else. I also was glad that he stopped coming. He was a bad advertisement for my teaching! Several weeks later I mailed to the students' homes a flyer on the upcoming recital. To my surprise Robby (who received a flyer) asked me if he could be in the recital. I told him that the recital was for current pupils and because he had dropped out he really did not qualify. He said that his mother had been sick and unable to take him to piano lessons but he was still practicing. "Miss Hondorf . . I've just got to play!" he insisted. I don't know what led me to allow him to play in the recital. Maybe it was his persistence or maybe it was something inside of me saying that it would be all right. The night for the recital came. The high school gymnasium was packed with parents, friends and relatives. I put Robby last on the program before I was to come up and thank all the students and play a finishing piece. I thought that any damage he would do would come at the end of the program and I could always salvage his poor performance through my "curtain closer." Well, the recital went off without a hitch. The students had been practicing and it showed. Then Robby came up on stage. His clothes were wrinkled and his hair looked like he'd run an beater through it. "Why didn't he dress up like the other students?" I thought. "Why didn't his mother at least make him comb his hair for this special night?" Robby pulled out the piano bench and he began. I was surprised when he announced that he had chosen Mozart's Concerto #21 in C Major. I was not prepared for what I heard next. His fingers were light on the keys, they even danced nimbly on the ivories. He went from pianissimo to fortissimo. From allegro to virtuoso. His suspended chords that Mozart demands were magnificent! Never had I heard Mozart played so well by people his age. After six and a half minutes he ended in a grand crescendo and everyone was on their feet in wild applause. Overcome and in tears I ran up on stage and put my arms around Robby in joy. "I've never heard you play like that Robby! How'd you do it? " Through the microphone Robby explained: "Well Miss Hondorf . . .. remember I told you my mom was sick? Well, actually she had cancer and passed away this morning. And well . . . she was born deaf, so tonight was the first time she ever heard me play. I wanted to make it special." There wasn't a dry eye in the house that evening. As the people from Social Services led Robby from the stage to be placed into foster care, I noticed that even their eyes were red and puffy, and I thought to myself how much richer my life had been for taking Robby as my pupil. No, I've never had a prodigy, but that night I became a prodigy. . . of Robby's. He was the teacher and I was the pupil For it is he that taught me the meaning of perseverance and love and believing in yourself and maybe even taking a chance on someone and you don't know why. Robby was killed in the senseless bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in April of 1995. And now, a footnote to the story. If you are thinking about forwarding this message, you are probably thinking about which people on your address list aren't the "appropriate" ones to receive this type of message. The person who sent this to you believes that we can all make a difference. So many seemingly trivial interactions between two people present us with a choice: Do we act with compassion or do we pass up that opportunity and leave the world a bit colder in the process? You have two choices now: 1. Delete this. 2. Forward it to the people you care about esp other SRNA classmates. You know the choice I made. Thank you for reading this. May God bless you today, tomorrow, and always. Work like you don't need the money. Love like you've never been hurt. Dance like nobody's watching. Sing like nobody's listening. Live like it's Heaven on Earth. :)

Thanks quiigley for the info!!! Tess;) ;) **********

I graduated from nurse anesthesia school in 1994 and took the boards in june 1995 but did not pass it and never took it again. I am contemplating about taking it again this time. Anyone who can tell me the contact number or website for R&R Board Reviews? All I know are the names of the CRNA instructors Howard F. Armour and Charles G. McCombs, Jr. of Latrobe, PA . They have unlisted phone nos. in PA. Any suggestions for anesthesia review classes other than Valley? Thanks :)

I was CCRN certified for few yrs but let it expire because I was not getting reimbursed by my employer (hospital) for it. I only studied a cheap book on CCRN exam (can't recall the author) and went to a seminar here in Norfolk, VA by Laura Gasparis herself in 1989, didn't buy but simply borrowed Gasparis' tapes from a friend and passed it. CCRN was a requirement to get into the Nurse Anesthesia School I graduated from in 1994. Took CRNA Boards in 1995 and did not pass it. Never took it again and I went back to CCU (Cardiac Care Unit) and I loved it and became comfortable with it. But now I am contemplating about taking the CCRN and CRNA Boards again because of my DJD and torn meniscus prob on my knee. I cannot lift heavy patients in CCU anymore. I would take my time if I were you. It is stressful enough to take a major exam let alone rush yourself into taking it. The Gasparis tapes were ok but there is something better now which is by Dennison - PASS CCRN. Wish you the best. Take care and God bless. Tess Tess

congrats wntrmute2! Wish you the best in your new profession and all of you hopefuls who want to go to anesthesia school. I find this very interesting. I am a new member and I happened to land in this website for some reason. I graduated from DePaul Medical Center Nurse Anesthesia School and Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA back in Dec 94. I worked in Richmond and maintained two apartments (one in Richmond and one in Virginia Beach where my family lived). I took my boards (paper and pencil then) there in June 1995 but did not pass it. I got so depressed about it and never took it again. Then I went back home to Virginia Beach, VA to return critical care nursing (cardiac) and truly loved it this time. I became so content with it that I truly believed this would be my retirement job. But then something new happened again. I came up with torn meniscus(cartilage) on my right knee and DJD (osteoarthritis) of my articular cartilage in 2003. This is probably from playing tennis in the past and lifting/turning heavy patients and moving beds/equipment. I am on short-term disability right now and contemplating about going back to nurse anesthesia as suggested by good friends who are physicians and my current orthopedic surgeon. Can someone tell me the phone number or website of R and R Anesthesia Boards? I already have the info on Valley Anesthesia. Thanks a lot!

I totally agree with the exercise part. However, proper nutrition is also essential to keep one alert and fit for this rigorous educational program and job thereafter. I did not pass the CRNA board exam in June 1995 because of unhealthy diet and primarily because I was so burnt out after 1 1/2 years of graduate pre-requisite courses and 2 yrs of nurse anesthesia with graduate school program. I remembered drinking 8 cups of coffee a day just to keep me awake to study for long hours every day and to keep me going for several hrs with all the stress and running around. Walking around the OR and the hospital was my sole exercise which was unhealthy too because I did not think it was relaxing for me. I took the CRNA board only once and never took it again. I am deliberating whether I should take it again or not. Take it from yoga CRNA who has a passion for the job and who has a great wealth of experience as a CRNA and still going and going and going...