CABGx4

Lol I was waiting for that!

I'm I western PA and made almost 180k last year with some OT in there. In general, big cities will pay less than small rural cities and towns. I have friends that moved to rural Texas and made a base salary of 200k. CRNA demand is on the rise so don't believe the naysayers. There's tons of jobs right now and sign on bonuses are coming back. It was hard to get where I'm at but this job is worth all the effort

I was going to answer your question until I read this comment

It's like the op said. If you can think up a schedule, it exists somewhere. Small hospital or's are likely done by 3. Bugger ones work around the clock and all shifts need coverage. Mine is a ten week call schedule some 24, 14, 12, 10, and 8 hour shifts. With plenty of days off í ½í±. I love my schedule except getting called for a code at 3am only to find the icu patient already intubated. í ½í¸¡

I don't check this site anymore but I got an email alert about your post. í ½í± I'd be happy to talk to you. Can you pm on this site? I'm not even sure anymore. If not just reply. I graduated from the valley in '14. í ¾í´˜âœŒï¸

math 149. verbal 151. essay 4. old scoring equivalent 1080. just finished 2nd semester;) good luck

I don't think there is a big difference as far as increasing your odds of getting into school. What matters is how much you learn and excel at your position. FYI I had 2 yrs MICU and 2 CTICU. Good luck

There are plenty of other ways to stand out without wasting time and money on an msn.

Skip the NP!!! Do not use that as a stepping stone toward CRNA. If u want CRNA, pursue that feverishly. U need at least one year of cv exp so I would go to community college and retake micro--and get an A of course. Take gre, shadow, precept new hires, do something involved with students, or charge nurse. Leadership exp helps. Most CRNA students do not have NP so please don't waste your time. Good luck!!

Hmmm.. A sensitive bunch. All I'm saying is a lil initiative can go a long way. Anesthetists are not the kind of folks who need spoon fed information. If your really interested, pm me and I'll help you out:)

I think google can help you. If you are too lazy to research the requirements yourself, you are probably too lazy for a career in nurse anesthesia.

I will turn 34 the day before my classes start this fall. Cudos to all you youngins out there who can handle this amount of responsibility. When I was 22, I had plenty of other things on my mind!!

Just take the cap off and if blood squirts across the room you'll have your answer. But seriously it sounds venous ESP with the fistula in that arm. On X-ray, the central line would not reach the right atrium and may appear to be in the aorta. Just my 2 cents?

Congrats on your new position. Other than frequent drips used, learn how to read a 12 lead EKG i.e. what leads and associated abnormalaties correlate to which coronary arteries. You will impress a lot of people esp the cardiac surgeons. You will be surprised how many people in the cardiac unit cannot read 12 leads. Oh almost forgot, Edwards lifescience has a great site with lots-o hymodynamic info since they make swans & monitors & stuff. Good luck!!

Do not listen to this one. Alarms are there for a reason. Yes, many nurses let unnecessary alarms ring all night long and this is why alarm fatigue is such a major issue in ICU's. But that one alarm you do ignore when your pt's sat is 60% will haunt you. Some alarms cannot be helped. Whatever you do, do not adjust the volume either. Adjust your limits for patient norms and respond to alarms appropriately. Ignoring them by either letting them ring or hitting the silence button from the nurses station is bad practice and you are asking for trouble!

"I just want to let you know that as an ICU nurse, it is impiortant to know alot about the different dips and how they function. For example if someone has dopamine and levo going and they have a high heart rate and still low bp, you should know to increase levo and not dop." I have to disagree with this one. Norepinephrine is naturally found catecholamine within the body with primary role as a neurotransmitter. It also acts on the sympathetic nervous system, along with epinephrine, during the body's fight or flight response and has positive chronotropic effect. As a drug, It acts primarily on alpha 1 & 2 receptors causing vasoconstriction but maintains some beta agonistic effects. That being said, if I have a hypotensive & tachycardic patient on dopamine and norepi gtts, I would NOT increase the norepi as this would increase the tachycardia. Now high-dose dopamine has similar effects and not a good choice as a vasopressor. I would look for adding a Neo or vasopressin gtt. Increasing the tachycardia shortens diastole and reduces coronary filling time, reduces cardiac output, and increases the risk of cardiac ischemia. If you need blood pressure now, do what you have to do but for an entire shift I would look at other options.

I used kaplan and I really like princeton review. good post

I didn't bother to ask them why they accepted me! haha I think I got in because I had a good resume (maybe not even as good as the OP), good experience, leadership experience, good attitude and people skills, ability to communicate my knowledge (this was very important for my interview) and some luck. The fact that I don't yet have my BSN was irrelevant because I called the school beforehand to see if that was ok, or should I wait to apply next year. They told me as long as I had it before August I was cool so I just applied. Every school is different so call them and ask whatever you need to know or find out the admissions coordinator's name and email them. I found out everything I could from everyone I knew about their admission process. It helps that I work at a hospital with several crna's from the same school so I would ask everyone who would talk to me. We even get their students bringing us pt's to our unit so I would ask them too. Everyone was very helpful and seem like they genuinely wanted me to succeed. I knew I would get a lot of clinical questions so I studied everything involving my unit, pt population, drugs, etc.. I wasn't worried about other specialty areas. If I've never worked in neuro then they can't fault me for not knowing about ICP's and stuff. I knew my area like the back of my hand, and turns out I didn't get asked half of what I thought I would. It was more like an interrogation to see how I would handle tough questions and to see if I could reason my way through stuff I didn't know. Also, I have over 4 years ICU exp. To the OP again, your stats are more than impressive. Get over 1000 on the GRE and your in for next fall. Only you know if you're ready. But what is one more year going to do but put you one more year behind your goal? All they can say is no...maybe

Great thread & thanks! I don't know how you have so much time to spend on this site???

If all u need is gre then apply now, buck up and take the test, then submit your results once they come in. Your application packets can be submitted in pieces as long as u get everything in by the deadline. That's what I did. I got accepted and I'm still finishing my BSN so anything is possible!!

I worked in medical ICU for 2 years prior to transfer to CT so 8 weeks was enough for me. Your step down has given you plenty of experience to handle it. Good luck!!

Sorry to hear about your allegheny interview. Can you elaborate as to what made it a bad interview? Thanks

Allegheny valley in Pittsburgh. Interview with program director and asst. dir separately. But the program director will make you wish you were in front of a panel!! Lol good luck

Your stats look pretty good to me. In fact better than mine and I got in. People think students need to stellar in every aspect of their resume but if your personality doesn't mix with the interviewer you ain't getting in. Just because you are smart does not mean you can take care of sick patients.

dcw, ask around. I'm sure you'll find people who have gotten in with less than 2 yrs exp.