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I also have to say that there are lots of jobs in Colorado for CRNA's. University of Colorado hires new grads and is part of a residency program for CRNA's from Texas Wesleyan University. Denver Health is also a part of this same program and will hire new grad CRNA's. St. Anthony's Hospitals (North and Central) are part of an anesthesia group that also practices in Summit County in the center of Ski Country USA (the practice in the mountains is a hospital that also is attached to a same day surgery center where the anesthesia people work both buildings through a little door between the buildings). Parker Hospital hires new grads, but from what I have heard from someone who used to work there, you are only paid for OR Time, not pre-op, or time spent in PACU if there are issues. Rose Hospital hires CRNA's for OB. So does PSL. Fort Collins has CRNA's. I think that I heard that Loveland hires CRNA's too. Aspen Colorado has a practice with CRNA's!!!!!! Fort Carson and Pueblo hires CRNA's. Pueblo will hire new grads. I do not know about Fort Carson. Vail will not hire CRNA's. By the way, I applied after I finished school at many places in Colorado. I have a great job and I practice anesthesia happily with my anesthesiologist partners. I am making a very nice salary and I am able to pay back my student loans while living very comfortably. I hope that helps to clarify a little bit that the jobs are here. You just need to know where to look. Asking around on a website like this is a great way to do that.

I work in a rural setting but in a very busy hospital with an adjoining surgical center that is also hopping. We get a lot of traumas and have a large number of elective surgeries daily. When I was at the county hospital for my CRNA residency, I felt the same as I do now. The setting did not matter in that respect. The part of the country perhaps does matter. I did part of my residency in Texas which was the worst experience of my anesthesia career so far to date. I hope to never again practice there. There was something so hostile about the majority of the CRNA's and MDA's. The worst part was that the OR nurses were the meanest people I think I had ever met in my life. I was in Ohio for another part of residency. It was a large teaching hospital. That was a decent experience too, like in my primary residency site. So, I have only really worked at 4 places (1 as a professional out of school). But I did see the way CRNA's can be treated in several environments. Generally, if you are working in a practice with MDA's, they will be "supervising" you. Some will hover over your every move. Others will allow you to practice anesthesia. Sometimes, until they get to know what you are capable of, they will stay close by. And they have every right to be there. It really all depends on the people involved and the experience level with anesthesia and as a supervisory role. I work in a practice that I have a lot of autonomy. My MDA's work with the CRNA's like a true team. There is mutual respect and a lot of teaching between both disciplines. Perhaps since I am in a small practice, it forces us to be more informal and respectful than if we were in a large practice and never spoke to each other but once a month. There are no guarantees. People will be people. People react differently to other people. But you will find the right place for yourself when you are ready to find your first job out of school. The most important bit of advice that I can give is to stay humble. You may know a lot, but there is always more to learn and there is always someone else who knows tons more than you. Listen to what your teachers have to say. It may be something you already know and have done a million times over. Just say "thank you". Being humble will get you through the rough times with any surgeon or any MDA/OR nurse/CRNA that is trying to provoke you. It lets you step away thanking them for the insight, so that it does not cloud your learning with anger (plus you do not want to be like them when you get out of school). It is sometimes hard to bite your tongue, but it was an invaluable lesson one of my friends who was a year ahead of me in school told me and I still use it. It was great advice for me since I am direct and assertive. I did not want to come across as overly confident. I am sure I still did to some while I was a student. But anyone who has worked with me long enough and knows me, knows that I am the first to step forward with my weaknesses. Anyway, I am just rambling on. I hope this info helps you. Good luck! :wink2:

Firstly, I just have to say this -- they have been buzzing for years now about having an anesthesia program in Colorado. There are so many politics involved with that decision. The nursing school, the med school, and the hospital all have to commit to this. As far as I know, CU will not have it. It does not seem right that there is such an interest by many nurses in Colorado. Also there is the hardship of leaving their homes to possibly not come home after almost 3 years of school. It also does not make sense that there is a slew of CRNA's between DH, UCH, and SAC, but no real talk of an anesthesia program here. The CO ASA is very strong in Colorado. I realize that they have to protect their practice, but there is a great need for CRNA's here. I am not a very political person, but I contribute to my professional organization and hope that those dollars make our voice stronger in CO. Back on track...Being away for a year is a small sacrifice when you think of how your life's options can change dramatically after you graduate from an anesthesia program. A career in anesthesia can bring much autonomy and satisfaction in the workplace that carries over into your personal life. The money-making potential is huge. Money does not solve problems, but it can make you more comfortable while raising 3 kids. You will never be without. You will always be comfortable. I went to TWU. I do not have kids and I am not married. But many people in my class were married with kids. Some people's marriages crumbled under the strain of school. Others endured and now are happily living again with a great quality of life (more job satisfaction and more money). It must be understood by all parties that this is going to be your job for the next year (plus a 1 1/2 year residency). It is a huge undertaking to make a commitment to go to anesthesia school. You have to be married to that program at least for the 1st year of a front-loaded program like TWU. After the first year, the residency is busy, but the time spent in class is only 1 day/week. The other times of the week, you are working and learning how to provide anesthesia. The catch at TWU's program is that you have to get in to those residency sites in Colorado. There are only 6 positions total: 3 at Denver Health and 3 at UCH. They usually interview in Colorado in January. Talk to the program coordinators at both places: Stephanie May at UCH and Steve Eberling at DH. They can let you shadow someone and you can show your interest in the program. Also, call TWU and start to get on the path so that you do not have to rush. Be the best candidate you can be that they cannot resist having you as part of the TWU program and Denver residency. But also remember to be flexible. If you do not get into those sites, then you may have to choose to take anything that comes your way or wait until next year when you may not get in. Just an aside, I was accepted to the program at TWU, but was assigned to go to Tucson, AZ for my residency. By the summer (2 months before we had to report to our residencies), it was announced that a 3rd position was opening at Denver Health. I asked if I could interview since I owned my home there for the past 10 years. I was lucky enough to interview and after I had interviewed they did not accept anyone else since they offered the spot to me. Talk about making my day!!!!! DH was a great place to do my residency. I had fun while I was learning. I admit that it is very hard to get away for long weekends during school, because there always seemed to be an exam following the holiday. It worked for me since it gave me time to catch up. For others with families, it caused them not to study the way they should have. Again, anesthesia school is a huge commitment. People can do it with kids and a marriage. It is not easy for anyone involved. One of my friends did it and pulled straight A's (she and her hubby sold their home; she took the kids with her while her hubby stayed where his job was where he was 1 year away from retirement; he came to FW on weekends while she studied like the dickens; she graduated with me and they are still happily married!!). But it is worth it in the end. For your wife with a great job/career -- perhaps she can transfer for a year or take sabbatical. I know that sounds unrealistic, but you have nothing to lose by asking and seeking the options. It will pay off in the end. Good luck! I hope this helps to make your decision to go to anesthesia school a little easier.

I have to agree with the 2 above. I was in the ICU for 17 years before making the move to CRNA. The autonomy is something that nurses who do not do advanced practice cannot even phathom. I used to dislike the waiting game and being run around by some resident doctor just because he/she read the recipe in a book and I was supposed to help him/her learn by making mistakes from plan A to Z. Or that I knew what the patient needed and was always put aside as if I was invisible. I guess that after many years in the ICU, I did not know everything (and I still don't), but I knew a lot and I felt that there was little credit from other departments/disciplines as well as my own peers. It seems like nursing just kept rewarding the people who kept their thoughts and mouths to themselves and the movers and shakers were labeled as trouble makers. I do not miss the bedside and the bickering between peers and other departments. I felt very undervalued as an ICU nurse even though I was a powerful informal resource person who was a "go to person" and well-respected in many ways. But still , for many, I was considered very assertive and outspoken which bought me a label of "trouble maker". For the first time in my life as a nurse, I feel like I really do make a difference and that I am really part of the team as a CRNA. I work hard and the cases can turn over very fast depending on what surgical service I work with that particular day. But I never have the interruptions of 10 family members needing to talk to me about the same patient, or PT/OT, pharmacists, xray. I am the one along with my attending anesthesiologt who comes up with a gameplan and calls the shots. Occasionally, we let the surgeon suggest something. Anesthesia is the most rewarding work that I have ever done. Had it not been for the hardships as an ICU nurse, I probably would not appreciate where I am today. But how I struggled to be less assertive and less outspoken has taught me to be more diplomatic. I learned how to negotiate as an ICU nurse. I have taken those skills of working for many years with people that I thought were difficult and bring it to my present practice. So everything happened for a reason!! Yes, the surgeons can be difficult. It is just a fact to be accepted. But for the most part, the rushing is to keep everything on time so that when the traumas start to come in, the electives are hopefully mostly done for the day (or we can squeeze them in between a ruptured diaphragm or spleen and a femoral fracture). I am guessing that you are planning on moving onward to advanced nursing practice. Good luck in whatever you decide to undertake. Carla

I graduated a year ago. What a relief!! TWU has numerous clinical sites from North Dakota, Colorado, California, Ohio. Check out the application for TWU. All of the current clinical sites will be on the application pages. There were about 30 primary sites and many other secondary sites (i.e., for peds, cardiac, OB if for some reason the primary site could not offer it to the students). They accepted 130 students when I started in 2004 (10 were repeaters). I think that the class size has gotten smaller since my class. It was a little large. Because for one reason or another, people may drop out, clinical sites will open up. If you want to switch clinical sites, there is a slim chance that you can get the more preferred site when one opens from someone leaving. I have a job in one of the premier places in the country to live. I had an incredible clinical experience which opened up many doors. Unfortunately, because I live in such a wonderful place, I had to sacrifice the loan forgiveness that many of my classmates got when they signed on at their hospitals/groups. But I have no complaints. Good Luck to you!! Work hard and you will be very successful!

I am a proud graduate of TWU. All of the people there are really excellent. I remember my interview as being the standard interview questions. I know that what they really want to see is that you can reason your way through a question to find the right answer. They are not looking to see that you know all the formulas, equations, facts about this and that. It is how you find your way to the correct answer and to know when to stop if you are not certain. The interviewers will help guide you if you get stuck so that you can find that right answer and reason your way through it. They look for your extra-career involvement -- ACLS instructor, education that is health-related but outside of the ICU, Conscious Sedation Committee, etc. Most of our learning comes after we graduate from our BSN. The BSN is only the basics that guide you to the rest of nursing and what it can offer you. It is good to get the questions answered correctly. But they look at you from all sides. As for the CCRN Exam -- I never took the exam. They do use this as a tool to compare the applicants. I have heard that it is a good predictor or success in CRNA programs. Remember to be flexible with your clinical sites. That will also help you to get in. They do try to accommodate your requests for clinical sites and I have a friend that was #1 on the alternate list but did not get in when a spot opened up for him, because he was not flexible with his appointment. The instructors and support staff at TWU are a really devoted group and want for you to succeed. I learned so much there and I am still learning tons after being out for a while now. I love what I do and I could not have imagined doing anything else. Good luck to you!!

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