hockeynpolo

TNhome - I have 4 years of ICU and 4 years of flight nursing experience. I believe UTC publishes their GRE score requirements on the website so as long as you meet or beat those requirements, you'll be qualified to apply. Some applicants get in with 2 years ICU, some get in with 10 years; it all depends on what you've done to set yourself up to succeed in grad school, how critical the patients you've taken care of are, and how much you want it. CCRN is a must for CRNA school really anywhere you go, even if it isn't posted. And I did fine on the HRSA. I'm not sure how much the HRSA score is weighted, but keep in mind they look at a variety of different data points (including the strength of your personal statement and essay) when determining who gets an interview. Everyone as strengths and weaknesses. Hope this helps.

I got in as well. Very excited!

I'm a flight nurse and my company requires all their nurses to be paramedics as well so I attended a bridge program. It was a very fast program, relying heavily on my past experiences as an ICU nurse for pathophysiology and pharmacology. My 8 weeks of ride outs with the fire department was an interesting experience since living in a fire house with 5 other guys was something new, but as stated earlier, pre hospital (medic) medicine is a different thought process. Nurses can assess but we can't order drugs. Medics can assess and refer to a protocol book to administer drugs. I'd recommend getting familiar with EKGs (you'll get a lot of chest pain calls), COPD and asthma (lots of respiratory distress calls), stroke assessments, how to treat hypoglycemia, and become proficient in starting IVs. Car accidents are also something new for nurses as even a trauma/ER nurse only receives patients; they're not on the front lines extricating them. So don't be shy if you get toned out for an MVA. Stick to your ABCs, get ready to provide ACLS at a moment's notice (no doctor around to lead a code) and remember that pedi patients aren't little adults.

an interesting potential side effect of Neo is reflex bradycardia so this patient could have had the alpha 1 agonist of neo for Bp support and count on some reflex bradycardia for rate control. I work in the transport world so when we pick up AAAs, they are usually hypertensive so pain meds and esmolol is usually all we need to bring the HR and BP down. If they are hypotensive, we give fluids and blood and fly quickly. Interesting case you had needing to keep the rate down to decrease the shearing effect of the HR, but then also need a little extra SVR support for the kidneys.

I would assume they do since it's required prior to interviewing. As far as how much that score is weighted in the acceptance process, that I don't know.

I'm from Texas but wanting to relocate to Tennesse. You?

I applied. Still waiting for a call back

Such a great book. Gave it to some other flight nurses and even though they've been flying for a few years now, they loved the book too

@ butterfly journey - I'm still at Parkland. It wouldn't hurt to mention you plan on staying at Parkland for the long run; especially when the new hospital opens. You are right in that many of the ICU interns and residents leave after their contract to go to CRNA school. In fact, 2 of my charge nurses are leaving this summer to go to school. I can't say that it will put you above others, but mentioning that you plan on staying at Parkland past your contract may help. Like I said earlier, the internship is hard but you get out of it what you put into it. Barbara and Laura are not out to get you. They have been educators for years and years and love to see their graduate nurses succeed and do well. If you are having trouble in a subject, they will stay late after class and go over it with you. If you feel uncomfortable in the clinical setting at the bedside, there are 3 other nurse internship instructors helping you through your 7 months rotation. It's not a sink or swim environment, but working in the ICU at Parkland is challenging and you do need to study up and know your pathophysiology and pharmacology.

Laura and Barbara have been doing this for more than 20 years. They already have an idea of the type of nurses they want in the internship. This probably sounds cliche, but be yourself. They aren't looking for the person who has a 4.0 GPA and is going to invent the cure to cancer. Going into the interview, I had no ICU experience and only 4 weeks of nursing school rotation worth of ER experience in a small 16 bed ER (Parkland's ER is 70 beds). They are looking for someone who will be eager to learn, as Parkland is a huge teaching hospital, willing to help others, and most of all, will fit into the Parkland Family. You can be a hotshot in the ICU, but if you don't work well with others, you're no good to Parkland's staff of doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists, or any other personnel at Parkland. The internship is a great experience. You'll definitely work hard, as the test are quite long and extensive, but the knowledge and experience you get is great.

You can still be a critical care nurse at Parkland with an ADN. Instead of doing the internship, where you rotate through all the different ICUs, you can do their Residency. The residency is different in that you interview for one of the ICUs (burn, medical, cardiac, or surgical) and you spend 4 months orienting to just that unit. For people with ADNs and who know that they want to do surgical ICU or medical over the others, the residency is a great way to get your ICU teaching. I did the internship last year but all the other nurses I work with did the residency. Let me know if you want more info about the program.

HD is never done on unstable patients in my MICU. We have pts on CRRT and if they can tolerate it, we will increase the fluid removal rate per hour on the CRRT machine to pull more fluid off. HD pulls too much fluid off too quickly. I was taught that a good rule of thumb is to titrate your medication off first before you pull fluid off. If you're pulling 100ml/h of fluid off, but having to go up on your levo or have to add vaso, the pt isn't benefiting much because you're having to give more meds that are tough on the blood vessels in order to keep your MAP in the 60s. Every nephrologist I've worked with was fine with me taking as low as 5 to 10 ml/h off due to the pt's unstable condition instead of going up on my vasoactive gtts to compensate. Remember, even if you're not able to pull much fluid off, the filter in the CRRT machine is still pulling out all the "bad" stuff floating around in the blood.

I was a new grad last year and interviewed for 2 critical care new grad programs. I was accepted to both. Now I'm 1 year out of nursing school with 1 year of medicine and cardiac ICU experience under my belt. It most certainly is possible!

I started looking at hospitals in February of last year and was contacted within 2 months, asking for me to fly out to Dallas and interview (parkland)

I grew up in California, went to college in Oregon, and applied to two ICU residencies (one in Texas and one in Tennessee). I got into both. Also there are 22 residents in my class, 10 of them came from out of state. So it is possible. If you're enthusiastic and willing to move to Texas, there shouldn't be any reservations about hiring an out-of-state new grad