JMR

Heavens! It's a small world! I interviewed at ASU on Saturday, March 27th. Who are (were) you? I felt good about the experience. The written test wasn't as bad as I had expected. Also, enjoyed interviewing with the married couple, the Bairds. JMR

Hey, give yourself a pat on the back. Your letter is the first step. This past Saturday I interviewed. When I entered the nursing school, a gentleman escorted me to an auditorium where I was handed a test that had 20 questions i.e. define ventricular afterload; what would you expect the ABGs to be of a person in septic shock, please address at least the pH, bicarb, and PCO2; what is the formula for calculating the MAP; trace a drop of blood from the vena cavae to the aortic arch listing all heart valves; your patient is having an interior wall MI so what leads would reveal the acute changes and what vessel of the heart is affected,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,etc. I then underwent 4 interviews each conducted by a professor or ancillary staff CRNA and; a first semester student. Each interview consisted of the 2 interviewers choosing 5 of the 20 questions for me to answer and then of course the standard interview questions: "why do you want to be a CRNA?", etc. Be yourself, don't try to BS, dress sharply and make eye contact. If at any point you feel frazzled, don't show it. Be honest. "I don't know" is an acceptable answer. Go for it and best of luck! I have another interview April 14. JMR

Dear Mark, Your best bet is a cardiothoracic vascular unit if possible. There are 3 very important things you're going to learn while there that CRNA schools are looking for: (1) experience with mechanical ventilation; (2) experience with invasive hemodynamic monitoring utilizing swan-ganz catheters and arterial lines and; (3) experience with titrating vasoactive drips such as the inotropes. JMR

Bryant, Depends on the schools in which you're interested. And too, although I don't have my CCRN, my guess is that it's much easier to study and take the GRE than do the other route. The bottom line however, is that you're going to limit yourself much more by not taking the GRE. I just interviewed for a school this past Saturday. Good luck to ya. JMR