UCDSICURN

81 chapters? Really? Suggested readings? Mandatory readings? Certainly, there must be some focus. If you compare the different texts, many have much of the same information. Let me know....i'll help out where i can.

Take a look at this link https://allnurses.com/forums/f16/helpful-pda-programs-270356.html

I have a Treo 680 (pda/cell combo) and absolutely love it. Plenty of memory for your programs and if you absolutely are worried about room you can add an SD card. I added a 1gig (If i can remember correctly) for pretty cheap, and to be honest, I didn't even need the extra memory. I honestly wouldn't go out and get a ton of stuff. I got some basics as you just aren't going to have time to sit in clinicals reading. I got some quick reference stuff: epocrates: it's free and has a bunch of med calculators on it already. sota amagoigui's anesthesia drug guide: like epocrates, but with an anesthesia focus. mass general anesthesia procedures handbook just as a quick reference. Tabor's medical cyclopedia- I just don't know everything i read and it's an awesome quick reference when quickly going over an H&P and see something that you can't remember or aren't 100% sure of. The only other thing I'm thinking about getting is Stoelting's Coexisting Disease (I'm not even sure if it exists for a PDA.) and I'm waiting for the new one to come out in February or March. If it's not in PDA format, I'll probably just do the handbook then. That's it for me so far and I hope this helps a bit.

I'm not sure if you're intentionally trying to be misleading or have just been misinformed but, for clarification, there are no laws that require a CRNA to be supervised by an anesthesiologist anywhere in the US, even for medicare reimbursement in the non-opted out states. There is no "getting away with" anything, which suggests we have found a loop hole and are circumventing the law. An anesthesiologist supervising a CRNA is a group or hospital policy/practice, not law. CRNA's do not need an anesthesiologist to practice. CRNA's need a physician to request anesthesia services, and if you want to label that as "working under", well, it's your label, but it's inaccurate at best.

Except for the fact that AA's don't practice independently, anywhere.

80 applicants? Completely inaccurate...the admissions department forwards about 80 apps to the anesthesia program to hand pick about 45 people for interviews, accepting 20-25 each year. There are hundreds of apps each year. Directly from the admissions person last year, they were looking at about a 7% acceptance rate when compared to total apps, that makes it about 350ish apps last year. As far as the school, i'm not sure what exactly you're looking for. It's front loaded. They have a great sim lab with two simulated OR's. Overall, i'm happy, and the staff will bend over backwards to make sure you get through. If you don't make it in this program, it's your own fault. Core nursing theory classes are held as intensive weekends. Three courses, two weekends for each held over three semesters. Pretty painless. One thing they will be up front about...they have so many clinical sites, you will be driving. You will not be at just one or two clinical sites, you will experience many. Tons of hours, and tons of cases with lots of regional. The neighborhood...well...it is Oakland. Like any urban environment, you can't be careless. If you stray to far away from the school, yes, you kind find yourself in an unfavorable neighborhood. The actual school grounds are very nice and are very safe. Good luck to ya...

Don't bother. It's not worth your time, energy, or sanity for a couple shifts a week. You'll be spread thin and burn out in no time from the combination of work and the rigors of the program. I'm the bread winner also. I have a 300k mortgage to pay for, commute costs, tuition, books, living expenses, etc...for a family of four, soon to be five. I refuse to work now and kill myself any further. School alone is difficult enough. If you work a couple 12's a week and go to a CRNA program full time, you're taking a real gamble of not being able to finish, or take it for the 2+ years. Take out the extra bit of loans you would be saving and save yourself some sanity and give yourself the best chance of successfully navigating anesthesia school and coming out a competent provider. Just my 2 cents...

Since you posted in the CRNA forum, I'm guessing you are referring to anesthesia stuff. I have a Palm Treo. I got the 680 (Older version) because the CNET reviews seemed to indicate they are more stable than the newer 700's. I splurged for the Treo because i just didn't want to carry more crap around. Palm + Phone or just the Treo. You're call. Drug guide wise, I have the free Epocrates for general stuff, and I got Sota Amagui's (sp?) Anesthesia Drug Guide. For quick reference in clinicals I have Mass General on my palm also, and for kicks I threw the Taber's Med Encyclopedia on there. That's about it. Hope it helps.

I'm 33 now...will be 35 when i'm finished... So what if you'll be 38 when you're done...that's nothing...If you practice until you're 65, that's nearly 30 years of practice....that's a no-brainer if you ask me. Even if you were 55 when you finished...You'd still have a good 10 years to practice assuming you retire at 65.

1 year community hospital ICU...combined ccu/micu/sicu 2.5 years university hospital, level 1 trauma, trauma & vascular sicu 1.5 years cardiac surgery icu...busy program...non-teaching...lot's of autonomy...and enough rope to hang yourself if you weren't careful...but awesome experience overall

Yep. Just put your head down and do your best at everything. You'll get there.

You can pretty much get as much as you need. Here's how my financial aid went. Filled out the FAFSA (free federal financial aid form, or whatever it's called). Got my award letter from the school which included the full stafford, sub and unsub amounts, and the grad plus, which was set at the default amount. After tuition, I would have had about 1k a month to live on, in northern california, which is ridiculous. I contacted the fa office, requested a re-eval of my personal cost of attendance. I had to give them a very detailed monthly budget, along with some supportive documentation (mortgage statement, etc). I padded things a bit knowing from previous students that they tend to low-ball a little bit. They pretty much gave me what I needed and asked for. In all, I ended up borrowing just under 40k from the feds for the 1st semester. Before you all start going crazy, remember I live in northern california, and my program is a private school which is front loaded with a lot of units the 1st semester. I just wanted to demonstrate that it can be done with federal loans alone. The money is there. You may have to be proactive and get the fa office to see things your way, but you should get what you need. Dont' freak out about the price tag of school. It's an investment with solid returns. And, you'll be able to consolidate your loans for reduced interest rates after you're done and may even be able to get some tuition reimbursement from an employer. Good luck and feel free to PM me if you have any questions. (Be patient if i don't respond quickly, CRNA school is pretty busy to say the least).

Applied to one and got in on the first try. May want to do a search, quite a few old threads with the same subject. Good luck.

Don't forget all of your benefits. Those really add up. If i had to COBRA my health insurance, that would cost me almost 1k per month. Factor that, disability, life insurance, retirement contributions if any, etc....It's the total package, not what you earn per hour.

Go to www.aana.com ....that will give you a listing and links to all of the accredited programs by state. Look at the neighboring states, their requirements, curriculums, etc... That will answer a lot of your questions. Come back when you have more specific questions. I could ramble on for hours and pages with the open-ended questions you asked. More importantly, you'll get up-to-date published information, from the source that matters, the individual program. Hope this helps...

The chemistry requirements and unit requirements for each school can differ. You have to research each individual school and their specific requirements. Univ of Southern Cal requires physics where most do not. Kaiser's program at CSU Fullerton requires a graduate level statistics course, where many do not. Point being that most schools vary slightly in their requirements. My BSN program required Anatamony, Human Physiology, Microbiology, Inorganic Chemistry, and Biochemistry or Organic Chemistry. You don't need Biochem as a pre-med requirement but you do need a full year of major's organic and a full year of major's inorganic chemistry, totalling 20 semester units just in chemistry. Hope this helps.

Go to www.aana.com and do your own research.

Totally agree. I was referring to the peanut gallery on this particular thread and was in no way referring to flight nurses in general. Look under their profiles...you'll see where it was coming from.

That depends on you and your situation. I really wanted to get into the school I'm going to because it's a great program and because my wife's family is close by. There is a no minimum per say, but you'll see when you actually start working on the applications and all of the material involved, doing too many will be a royal pain as they are very time consuming.

Anesthesia has everything that I like about the ICU and then some....and nothing that I don't. As far as the peanut gallery sounding off, I wouldn't worry about them. We pay no attention to under-educated and disgruntled flight nurses and pre-nursing students. That's just a waste of our time.

I can say I've only seen a couple open hearts come out on insulin drips. Post-operatively we are very aggressive with tight glucose control with a goal less than 140 for at least the first 48 hours, as I can't speak to how tight control is on the floors. I really can't speak to the why's of the -ologists in the CVOR and why they are behind the times. The surgeons and clinical educators are aware and are working on it, but have yet to see any results.

One of the CRNA's i worked with did 6 weeks in Vietnam last year. I'm not sure who he went through, but he said there's plenty of opportunities available.

I'm only speaking from the Cardiac OR perspective but anesthesia wouldn't bother treating unless they were well into the 200's, depending on K levels. Their ABG machines pretty much gives them everything they need, ABG values, Lytes, Glucose, Lactic Acid, Hct, etc...For straight forward CABG's they generally get from what i've seen, 4 or so ABG's, intial, closing, couple in between. Hope this helps a bit....

A different approach would be to go for an MSN, do very well, and then apply to a CRNA program that offers a post-master's certificate. Your very best bet, is to sit down and have a chat with the school(s) you're looking at. As good as our intentions are on this board, the best we can do is speculate. You need to do some footwork and go talk to the folks at the program(s), they'll give you THE answer. Good luck....

How are your science grades? Anatomy, Physio, Micro, Chem, etc... If you have good science grades, a pretty good nursing GPA, and good GRE scores I think you'll be safe. My biggest concern is the quality of your experience. CCU is a very broad term and can mean a lot, but having seen CCU used in different hospitals, it generally means, AMI/Cath Lab patients. If this is the extent of your exposure, I would highly recommend getting into a high acuity cardiac surgery ICU, SICU, MICU..Some place where you will see vents, drips, volume resuscitations, etc...on a very regular basis. Getting this experience (assuming you already are not) will boost your chances in my opinion. Given the ever increasing competitiveness of the applicant pools, we all need everything we can get to have us stand out or at least on par with the other applicants. Just my 2 cents....