kdst

micugirl, the school you are in picked you for a reason. although you feel stupid and in the way, you are neither of those. you are there for a reason-to learn. try to hold yourself together and be like a sponge. just do the best that you can and you will catch on. i'm sorry people are mean. it's true, some people are but you can't take it personally or it will destroy you. don't let it. this advice comes from a new grad CRNA. if i did you can too. my pledge to you is that i will never treat a student the way that some mean people treated me. we can only change that trend one CRNA at a time. i was told by a motivational leadership speaker that you are given 2 things in life: gifts and lessons. you are there because you have gifts now go learn your lessons, even the painful ones. good luck. p.s. i agree that if there is a downside to this profession it is the stress. you have to be able to function well under serious stress.

I thought the SEE was really hard, was sure that I had bombed it but was surprised to find that I did pretty well. I'm not too comforted by that score because it is a comparison to everyone that took it the previous year (both juniors and seniors). I thnk they should break the scores out by year and that would give you a better idea of how you compare with others in your same year. My school used it for grading so it wasn't totally stress free. It was good prep for boards only in that I had been to the testing center before boards and knew what the drill was there. I wouldn't have paid the fee to take it if the school didn't make me. I talked to my program director last week and he said he thinks the SEE is harder than boards. Having just taken the boards, I'm not sure....I thought they were both really hard!

Did you take a GRE prep class? Mine was a big help. Expensive but worth it. My CRNA program didn't require the GRE but I applied to 4 and 3 did. Try to improve the score or else apply to some that don't require it. You can't allow yourself to get discouraged this early in the game. Just pursue your goal with tenacity.

Great job! What a relief it must be to have that result in hand. I took it yesterday. I too was scared to click the 90th answer but thankfully that was the end of it. I'm hoping that is a good sign. I thought the sweatbook was a very good review. Memory master I found to be very painful (it seemed like so much trivia) but I did pick up some info there that i think helped me on my exam. Can't say for sure til I'm in your shoes! :monkeydance:

Craig, congratulations on finishing. I can't wait til I'm in your shoes.

Kaiser School of Anesthesia/Cal State Fullerton does accept students without ICU experience. My class has several ER nurses.

Regarding the GRE: You do not report your score to schools that don't require it, so the low score scenario will not affect your admission at those schools. It is part of your permanent record but you control who can access those scores.

never on an unintubated pt. you are right on.

we did titrate paralytics in our trauma/sicu, usually norcuron or nimbex to a 1:4 twitch on train of four. these were the sickest of sick ARDS patients that could not even tolerate any respiratory effort without desaturation. of course they were also well sedated and the paralytic drips were used as a last resort when sedation alone and vent manipulation was not enough. and of course intubated.

especially since you know which schools you are going to be applying to, why not just phone them and ask the directors directly. that way you aren't guessing about what it is they want and don't waste any time or energy doing the wrong thing.

DR. ROBERT KOTLER, PLASTIC SURGEON: Well, Deborah, in cosmetic surgery, the risk is not in the cutting and the sewing, it is in the anesthetic. And unfortunately, that's what happened to Olivia. There were problems with the anesthetic which shouldn't have occurred. Of course there is risk in cutting and sewing. What about bleeding and infection? What about when they accidentally perforate the abdominal wall with that liposuction wand? What ever happened to the informed part of consent? I wonder if that is what he tells his patients, that the only risk is from the anesthetic! Scary.

[ If you read through the article, it makes reference to the surgeon noting that Olivia's blood was crimson. Does this sound like methemoglobinemia to anyone else? It would explain the appearance of the "normal numbers." I've seen methemoglobinemia twice and in both cases the blood was brown, like cocoa, not crimson.

you are so right there are always 2 sides maturner. but we are done with it and the bs and are moving on. i just bet you are laughing. Am i right charcoal king?

you are so right there are always 2 sides maturner. but we are done with it and the bs and are moving on. i just bet you are laughing. Am i right charcoal king?

I have lived on oahu since 1981, went to nursing schools (2) here, (rotated in most hospitals during school) and have worked at Queen's for 11 years. (Kaiser too, as a call-in). I've also raised 2 kids here and agree that most public schools are in disrepair and lack proper funding. There are fabulous private schools here, but be prepared to shell out the dough to the tune of 10-12,000/year. It was worth every last cent. I can't compare Nursing here to the mainland because I haven't made it there yet. That will change soon as I am headed to LA to CRNA school next month. However, I disagree that medicine is "like a third world country" here and am proud to say I have the utmost respect for my nursing and physician colleagues. I count many of them among my best friends and have seen incredible selfless dedication in these people. The outer islands do lack many medical services and people do have to fly to oahu for specialized treatment. We also serve the entire pacific rim. There is a thriving community of CRNA's here. I think the pay is slightly less here than the mainland but not horribly so. I didn't love it from the day I moved here, it happened over time but I feel the exposure to many different cultures is enriching and fun. Hope this helps!