PrimeRib

Wait, so I just read and re-read your post. When you said that you'll be eligible to take the NCLEX when you graduate high school, at first I thought you were mistaken and/or confusing it with some nursing program admissions test... but now I'm wondering, since you somehow already have prereqs completed for the nursing program... did the community college say that they are actually going to let you start in the nursing program/complete clinical, etc. while still technically a high school student?

I didn't get into St. Mary's but have a similar pickle in that I did get into a different school, have accepted and paid my deposit but was just offered an interview at MSA. Off topic but just curious if anyone feels there's anything ethically wrong with interviewing at another school, just to keep one's options open, after you've already committed to a different one.

Seeing as you already have your BS in Exercise Science, it seems to me that it would be the best use of your time (and possibly money) to complete a post-baccalaureate entry level nursing program, if one is available where you live. Some (maybe most, these days?) of these programs offer an entry-level master's degree, or a BSN, either of which would qualify you for admission to graduate CRNA programs (aside from the typical upper level chemistry requirements and/or GRE, if you haven't done those already) . Check out the admission requirements for the CRNA programs you are interested in, contact them if you need to. Some don't necessarily require you to have a BSN, in some cases it is adequate to have a bachelor's degree in a "related science field", as long as you also happen to be a Registered Nurse. In which case your cheapest option might be to just go the community college ADN route... again, this is all dependent on whether or not your chosen CRNA programs are fine with you having a non-nursing bachelor's degree in addition to your RN, don't take my word for any of this. It seems to me the ADN then BSN thing would be the longest road for you at this point, looking at at least 2 years for the ADN program, more if you still have to complete pre-reqs, and then something like a minimum of 9 months in the RN to BSN program, which you might not be quite interested in doing immediately after you finish your ADN program. So if the "non-nursing bachelor's degree" + RN license isn't an option for your CRNA schools of choice, cost aside and in terms of sheer time and effort I would probably recommend either a post-bacc program or a BSN program. You'll just have to plug in the numbers and see what works best for you.

Bedside nursing can be hard work, there's no two ways around that fact. I continue to be amazed by seeing nurses 25+ years my senior who can run circles around many of the younger staff, staying for doubles or coming in early, picking up extra shifts, etc. Working at a large academic medical center, I have certainly observed that a good majority of the young(er) nursing staff have some intention of eventually moving away from the direct bedside, whether it's to advanced practice or more administrative roles. Of course, I don't know either what is directly responsible for that trend, and whether it's necessarily a good or bad thing. A cynic could well surmise that a portion of the younger generations just don't know how to work (physically) hard anymore, at least not like their parents or grandparents. If this is true, it really is sad, and I'm not excluding myself from that demographic. I've always put forth a good effort academically and of course always do my best at work, but sometimes it seems like the physical and emotional requirement in bedside nursing in terms of picking up extra shifts to really get ahead financially outweighs the cash. Sometimes it feels like there has to be a better way, but the grass is always greener on the other side (advanced practice nursing or administration), and that just may be the soft I do think that advanced practice nursing has become a lot more visible in the public eye, to the point where now kids are saying that they want to be nurse practitioners or nurse anesthetists when they grow up, I don't know if this was really the case even 20 years ago. Nursing has become a more academic profession, and you do see many academically inclined people joining our ranks. The fact is that bedside nursing is not always necessarily very intellectually stimulating. Even in the ICU, where nurses do their best to think on a physiologic level with regard to all of their drips and interventions, it can be hard to feel intellectually challenged when you're giving a bath or cleaning up code browns for an entire shift. I do enjoy my job and feel very thankful to have it, but I can't really imagine staying in this particular role for another 30+ years.

While your pre-med friend should have some inkling as to what they might like to do should they indeed get into medical school and have the opportunity to apply to residencies, it's perhaps a bit presumptuous or naive for an undergrad chemistry major to say definitively, for example "I am going to become a cardiothoracic surgeon" when there are so many "what-ifs" on the horizon, ie get a competitive MCAT score, get into/complete med school, get accepted to the residency program of their choice, all the step exams in between, applying for fellowship, etc. And it's not too crazy to imagine that somewhere during the course of all that education, one might find that their clinical interests may change. Maybe during their five year stint as a general surgery resident they would realize that they like working on kidney/pancreas transplants better than the open hearts. I personally know two anesthesiology residents who switched residency programs after the intern year of a general surgery program, so interests do change the more you expose yourself to any field. The same goes for nursing, though it's typically a bit of a shorter road to the loftier goals, FNP, NNP, CRNA, etc etc. I'm sure that based on your level of interest and drive that you will indeed do well working with neonates in an intensive care environment and will eventually be accepted to the graduate program of your choice. But perhaps it's important to maintain some sense of perspective that your interests may change, the more you learn about the field and your own skills. Perhaps, once you're in the thick of immersing yourself in learning critical care nursing, you'll get interested in pursuing anesthesia rather than NNP. Or maybe you'll find that as much as you like babies, working with neonates is not for you. Or maybe you'll follow the exact track you have planned for yourself without a hiccup, it's all possible. I think I understand the sort of "shaming" you are referring to and while I don't think it's always necessarily nice or appropriate, being many years out of school and now applying to graduate programs, I can sort of see both sides of the story. As an undergrad nursing student and now as a professional nurse, I have always had plans to pursue graduate education. These plans have shifted somewhat as I exposed myself to various fields of nursing, slowly working "up the ladder" in terms of level of acuity. Of course, as is common, the more I learned, the more I realized I previously didn't know. I'm sure it can be a bit grating for veteran ICU nurses (which I am not) to meet a brand new RN, orienting in the ICU, who says that they are going to become a CRNA before they even really know what propofol or phenylephrine are, or how to use them. I'm sure there are examples like this in every field of nursing. I certainly don't think these more senior nurses should be trying to crush the dreams of new nurses/nursing students just because they are inexperienced. Honestly, in the examples of this sort of "shaming" I have seen, it's usually based on some level of insecurity or jealousy that someone young has the drive and ability to pursue an advanced education that they never had the stones for. But on the other side of the coin, sometimes new nurses and nursing students can come off as just plain...arrogant and dumb. I'm sure you are not one of these people, but if you are catching flack for airing your career plans publicly, maybe examine how you are doing it and the language you use. As someone who has appeared dumb or naive many, many times in my life, I can certainly speak to this. It's wonderful to have lofty goals so early in your professional career, and nobody should be discouraging you. But like it or not, you still have to "earn your stripes" on some level in order to gain credibility with your peers. So look up to your veteran nurses and show that you understand that they have a lot to teach you, even pretend it with the lazy ones . Help out on the unit as much as you can, look for learning opportunities, learn how to ask for help and delegate. Understand that sometimes you just don't have the experience to know what you don't know. Try to avoid saying naive or arrogant things . Good luck!

Oh, also, did you submit a resume along with your app? Just curious. They don't really ask for much, but yeah, website is very vague.

ie the UW-La Crosse program? I'm currently scrambling to get everything submitted. Their website is a bit unorganized, it's one of those weird programs (like MSA in Minneapolis) where the degree is granted by a university but the program is actually taught via an old, hospital-based program. So it's hard to find anything real online. Even the addresses for where to send transcripts, reference letters, etc. are a bit inconsistent, even on the UW La Crosse program page. 700 West Ave vs 700 West Avenue South, ha ha, is it the same thing? Will the letters go to the same place? Did you have the same struggles? Nevermind submitting GRE scores to the Department of Biology. What a headache. One question for you, I see nothing, anywhere, about an essay. Are you submitting one, along with your mailed paper application to the actual anesthesia program?

I believe so, only 12 students per year, I have an acquaintance from my BSN class in the program currently. For this reason I'm viewing my application as more or less a hopeful shot in the dark, but you can't know unless you try, right?

Hello, just curious if anyone applied for the University of Minnesota's DNP CRNA program this year? I haven't seen too many recent threads about this school. Anyone out there a current/former student at the U of M?

Anyone else see this on the "prospective students" tab of the SMUMN NA program's website? Just spotted it this morning. "We have finished processing applications for the class starting in 2017 and letters are going out." I was out of town over the weekend and hoped to find a letter (for better or for worse) waiting for me in the mailbox today, but no such luck.

Agreed on the notion that the wages for MAs are not particularly great or likely to support a family of four. With the "not nursing-related" comment, however, I have to question how this little dig was meant to be genuinely helpful for a person in a tight financial situation looking for a healthcare-related job. I think anyone who reads it who isn't a robot understands that "the nursing field" is often used as a bit of a misnomer for "healthcare", "the medical field", etc. and should be able to roll with that without correcting someone looking for advice, in thinking that they somehow compromised the integrity of nursing as a true profession.

Oh man, don't you just hate nurses like this? I didn't read the replies before me, so I'm sure this was already mentioned, but the cliche is true, nursing is a 24-hr job. Of course we all would like to have everything wrapped up in a nice little package by the time the next shift comes on, but this just isn't always feasible. Things do happen right at shift change, and quite often. The patient goes into a-fib, blood pressures suddenly way higher or softer than they've ever been before, "panic attacks", huge code brown, foley/NG/IV/Chest tube/whatever gets pulled out. It sucks, but these things do happen 10 minutes before shift change. My advice - continue to do your best work, keep the physician team in the loop about any major changes throughout the shift so nothing comes as a surprise when the next shift has to call them, get your meds passed, keep your patients clean and your rooms neat and organized (this for the sanity of the oncoming nurse, nothing is worse than walking in at the beginning of your shift to find a patient all kitty-wompus in bed, full of poop). When these things do happen around shift change, stay to help with what you can, i.e. stick around to turn the patient/help clean up the code brown, call the physician team to update them about any major changes/continued VS out of wack towards the change of shift - it's easier for your to stay a couple minutes late to talk to a doctor about an ongoing issue than for a nurse who doesn't know the patient to have to do that, and it sets them up for success, at least you've got a plan in place. As far as dealing with the attitudes, brush it off. Do take into consideration things you could have done to improve your work, but absolutely do not apologize for things you cannot control. The night charge nurse was "mad" that the patient's blood pressure was high all day? Boo hoo. Sounds like you kept the MD team up to date and were fairly diligent with the prns, I would say you did what you could. Make sure you're cycling BP readings often enough (every few minutes if they're that labile) and document, document, document accordingly, and update the team frequently if you need to, move up the chain of command (to fellows/attendings) if you're dealing with residents and not getting the results you need. Oh, and ask for advice/help from co-workers, especially the experienced ones, which it sounds like you were doing. With the nurse who emailed you, I'd confront her personally (in a nice way), extend your condolences that they had a rough shift, perhaps ask what she feels you should have done differently (you are still learning, after all, and you did your best), make a mental note (does this nurse have a valid point, or are they just being dramatic?), learn from it, and move on. Some nurses can be the worst people to work with and you just learn how to deal with these attitudes after a while. To be fair, I would have a very difficult time with not asking this person, in a passive-aggressive manner, why they felt that emailing you was a good idea vs. just mentioning it to you in person. People are so strange...

Strange, I could have sworn that mine said "requirements check" earlier on before it switched over to the month-long+ "admission review" purgatory. So I really have no idea what it means. Doesn't sound negative, though.

The professor for our O chem lecture was one of those instructors who is probably kept on because of his research because I must say, while a very nice guy, he probably doesn't have any business teaching the basics of such a notorious subject to undergrads. I found his lectures moved very quickly and very difficult to understand, which could be the case for many old chemistry professors. Anyway, don't buy into the hype from pre-med types of O chem being an impossible class/"say goodbye to your social life", etc. etc. It's actually very logical but does require a fair bit of effort. That being said, I can't imagine how much work it would be to take O Chem along with physics and other tough courses on a pre-med track, I have to commend those 19 year olds who are able to make it happen. Check out the CrackOChem videos, because they certainly worked for me as a study aid, and my most recent college chemistry course was now 10 years ago!

I did a brick and mortar organic chemistry course last fall at a state university, huge lecture with 150+ students (funny being in class again with mostly 19 year olds), so I can't speak to the UNE online course at all. But in assuming that all introductory university-level O chem classes deliver their content in a similar manner...ie nomenclature then alkanes, alkenes, alkynes, acid/base reactions, substitution, oxidation/reduction, NMR spec, etc etc etc, I cannot speak highly enough of the CrackOChem site. He delivers the content in plain english, and if you watch the videos and take detailed notes, as long as you do plenty of practice problems, you shouldn't have any problem with doing well in OChem. As a side note, he does charge for the later videos once it gets into the nitty gritty, but his first 5 are free to watch. I did use my textbook plenty but my usual method of study would be to watch his video on whichever given subject first, then read/skim the corresponding chapter for understanding and do as many practice problems as I could bear.