DreameRN

What's going on with Union now? I'm curious...Did they get any teachers hired?

Will you be a licensed RN during this residency year? will you be taking full assignments on your own in the ICU? If so, I believe you can count this as experience. If not, then you can't. As I understand it, residency programs are a support system put into place for new grads in the ICU, with extra classes, and meetings, and things like that on top of your normal work in the ICU. If it's that, you can count it. However, to make yourself the most competitive--and better CRNA--plan to do at least one more year than the residency year. Say a code happens in the OR, will you be comfortable running it yourself? Best of luck.

Not really. That's why you need solid couple years experience and be comfortable with most types of patients, codes, all in a strange/new environment etc. Many times if they are short enough that they need a travel nurse, staffing ratios will not be good and instead of 1-2 ICU patients, you'll have 3 critical patients, and you'll need to be able to handle that workload and time manage. There are some resources to check into--there's a travel nurse forum on here that you could read through and get most of the info you'll need. There are also some facebook travel nurse groups as well that has a lot of info and tips.

Just for your planning, you should know that you cannot travel nurse until you have at least 1 year of experience in your specialty, and the better companies require minimum 2 years. As a travel nurse, you are expected to show up and be able to fully function in any assignment with any patient assignment the day you roll in the door. There is often zero orientation, you just show up to the hospital, go up to your floor, and start work on the unit. And since you want to do CRNA school, that unit would need to be ICU, and no travel nurse assignment will take a new grad in the ICU, I'm sorry to say. You could find an ICU as a new grad and do your 1-2 years there and once you get accepted, take a travel assignment or two to bank some money until you start? Good luck!

So you are a nursing student, not an SRNA?

Ours has said they will have something for us online to do, to replace some of clinical. If there was not a shortage of PPE, then I think it would be reasonable to continue in clinical if the person wanted to. However, with the shortage of PPE, there is no reason to double the amount of everything and burn up supplies that much. Clinical can wait, as much as that pains me, and as much as I hate to delay my education, conserving supplies is more important and also exposing less people is also prudent. I'll stay home and review my notes, books, board material, and yes, likely netflix..

This is more along the lines of what I meant. Some schools operate with clinical sites where this is the norm. MDs push the drugs, and decide how much/what to give of each.

Update.... We are now cancelled from clinical for the forsee able future. PPE concerns. We live in interesting times..

Mine has currently gone online with classes. Clinicals are still ongoing for the moment, such as they are with elective cases being cancelled.

I'd also ask about MDA oversight. I've read posts from people (prominent ones in the CRNA community) that said because of their program and the clinical sites, they graduated *without ever pushing their own induction agents*. So ask programs, at their sites, do you push your own meds? If you pick a school that is heavily MDA directed, this could be you. I can't imagine graduating, not having pushed my own meds. This also means they weren't exposed to CRNA independent practice sites, which is also a great thing to see/rotate through. This is also something to avoid and be aware of.

I don't have experience with the east coast but I am midwest and I was similar to you. initial science GPA of 2.7. I retook anatomy and chemistry at the community college and that brought my science GPA up to 3.2. I was then scheduled to retake a couple other classes (to replace those Cs in the sciences) but I got into school and didn't have to. I'd talk directly TO the schools you are applying to and see how they factor your GPA. Many if not most, will accept a grade in place of the previous bad grade, no matter where it is from. I got Cs in undergrad at community college, I got As when I re took them at community college and they just swapped it. I have heard of some schools merging all of the grades, thus I suggest you talk to the schools you are interested in so if you don't have to pay more money for a 4 year school, you don't have to.

I get the lament about the money. I do and agree--I applied to 3 masters and 1 doctorate program for the same reasons you outlined--I'm also older, and I wanted to be able to start working as soon as possible, regaining that paycheck 9-11 months sooner. I got in the doctorate and so be it and I'm glad now. If you read into the politics and familiarize yourself with the history, and politics of NA, you will begin to understand why the move to doctorate occurred. Most states are fighting a battle legislatively and in the public, with physicians for recognition of NA skill--that we are safe and independent providers and have equal abilities in the OR and that our years of clinical experience and schooling are important along with SO many other things. I'm sorry though, I wish there was a better option for you without moving.

I can also vouch for reading this. Opening the application mid-Jan for an August start I think it said.

Thanks Progressive that really helps... I'll start the application process early then in switching my RN license once I have a job offer and I get closer to graduation. Appreciate it!

I am wondering if anyone can fill me in on how it would work for CRNA licensure. I am graduating from one state, but I won't be staying in this state, only am here for school. Primary license is the school state license. I am hoping to work in a different state. How does this work for CRNA license? Do I need to take my boards in a different state, or get my RN license switched prior to applying for CRNA license? Thanks!

I often feel similar...10 years experience here. I am acutely aware of how proficient the CRNAs I am with and my deficits compared to them. I have about 90 intubations under my belt but I've missed a good share as well and every time I feel like an incompetent idiot and kick myself the rest of the day. They all say I'm doing fine and am right where they expect me to be. I try to align my mindset with that and take it on faith that I'll get there. I also think of when I trained new grads in the ICU, how long it took them to do tasks that were cake for me and second nature---IT WILL COME. One of the CRNAs told me too, it's just experience. Do a 100 of something and it starts to come easier. 100 intubations, 100 art lines, 100 blocks, 100 IVs, etc... I can also guarantee that most of your classmates feel similar even if they don't show it (I try to hide this insecure feeling as well)...If I'm feeling this way, and other people in my class feel this way, then people in your class do as well, they just hide it. You got this!

Current student here, and I strongly concur with what Progressive says. That's extremely similar to how I study and I have maintained a 4.0 thus far...but I do read/skim our material as our profs usually throw in a couple questions from the reading alone. I also use the reading to supplement the powerpoints...if I'm super shaky on a concept in the powerpoint/lecture, I'll read the section in the book in depth, watch a najeeb video on it, or that and try to grasp the concept. Once I have the concept understood, then I go back through the power points and re read/memorize. I listen in class, go through powerpoint, go through it again, and start writing out the main ideas in my own words (typing doesn't work for me), listen to my recording of lecture, and then before the exam, meet with 2 of my classmates that I trust (key here, they are prepared and understand most of it) and talk through it all slide by slide to get clarification. this really helps to 1. solidify your knowledge and make sure it jives with the others, and 2. points out gaps if you don't know something.

Yes you've got to get those grades up. Retake them at your community college. I had 4 C's in my sciences--chemistry, anatomy, physiology, org chemistry-- before I got to nursing school and got serious as well. I retook 2 of the classes, and got As which brought my science up from 2.7 to 3.2 which was my school's minimum. I applied with that and got in. I had the other 2 booked for the next semester to retake as well in case I didn't get in. Many times your hospital will have a tuition reimbursement as well, so you could get them paid for that way. I paid out of pocket about $1500 for the ones I took. They understand young and dumb, but you've got to prove you can ace them now, especially at a community college. It can be done! Good luck.

I'll likely have 200k in loans when I graduate. While this is daunting, as a CRNA typically you have a big shovel to pay things off. As an RN I had 60k. I made 60k roughly, and I was able to pay this off in 10 years. This along with things like buying cars, buying a house, putting my husband through school and other such things. I made paying them off a priority but not the highest As a CRNA I will likely make 160-200k+. I'm able and willing to move, as well as attend a program known for it's ability to graduate independent providers due to good clinical rotations, plenty of regional and OB, and such things so the probability of me picking a job with great pay and benefits is high. (fingers crossed) I plan to immediately refiance my 7-8% loans with either first republic if I am able, or sofi, earnest, or laural road as they typically offer CRNAs the lowest rates. I have seen 1.95% for first republic, and 3-4% with the others. This will cut down the interest I am accumulating. I plan to look for a job with a sign on bonus if possible and all of that will go to the loan. My cars will be paid off, my house has plenty of equity when I sell (if the market holds), and I was comfortable living on how much I made as an RN. The goal is to just chuck all the money at the loans til they are gone. Given these things, if I have a salary of 180k. 180k x .35 (taxes, SS, etc) =9750/mo AFTER taxes. I can pay 4k/mo on my loans comfortably, and still have 5750 to live on. And this does not consider my husbands income at all. And the fact that I will likely not need over 5k/mo to live on, and will probably pay more on my loans, and work overtime. But doing the 4k/mo in this scenario has me paying off my loans in 6 years, at the original rate of 7.8%. This is why I am okay with higher loan amount. Your individual situation may be different, but if you are debt adverse and don't have much now, and your CRNA loan will be the only thing, you can knock that out in as little as 2 years if you are dedicated. Look at this prepayment calculator below, it lets you enter in all the variables, and see how fast you could pay off with different amounts, interest rates, and time frames. Hope this helps. http://www.finaid.org/calculators/prepayment.phtml

I guess the question is, do you want to be a CRNA or do you want to be FNP? If CRNA, it makes no sense to get FNP first. Getting FNP will likely take you out of the ICU, and a CRNA applicant needs current ICU (and no I haven't heard of a part time NP gig like that, especially for a new grad FNP, they will want full time most likely as you will need to learn the role). If you do your CRNA first, then you can practice and make a salary and then do one of the easier online or in person FNP programs at your own pace if you still desire that role. CRNA school is wildly inflexible and will require all your time and attention. There is no real shortcut to being CRNA as bluebolt above has said. You may not have to take a couple classes during the CRNA program, but if you do CRNA, you will be giving up 2-3 years of your life unable to work. There are no short post masters CRNA programs. I do not want to rain on your parade, but I hate to see you get a couple years down the road 25k in debt for FNP, and still want to do CRNA and then go back to the ICU for experience, and then take out 100K in loans for CRNA school. Either profession is great, but it would be much easier with the experience you already have to go RN to CRNA to FNP, than RN to FNP to ICU to CRNA. Not impossible, just much much harder. Good luck!

To have the best shot at getting into CRNA school, recent ICU experience is going to be your best bet. The higher acuity the better. There are a couple schools that will consider ICU further back but they are few and far between, and you will definitely have to prove that you get and know how to manage critical patients. just my .02. Good luck!

The bigger name schools have a heftier price tag as well from what I've seen on here. Paying more money to fight for case time with residents just does not sound appealing to me. My school is around $85K. Duke is $136k. That's 50k more just in tuition. My school has a small class size and terrific clinical experience. We graduate with a student average of over 1000 cases, and over 3000 anesthesia hours. Multiple rural sites, plenty of regional 200+ blocks, etc. Look for a school like that so when you graduate, you aren't handicapped if you want to practice independently. I shopped around a lot and haunted these forums and nurse-anesthesia.org before it became defunct and picked up a lot of wisdom that helped a lot in picking a school and what to look for. I'm 2 months into my clinical, and I already have my required "10 blocks", and this is without having gone to one of the block heavy rotations that are still upcoming. I can't imagine graduating and feeling proficient only having done just the minimum. Some programs only get you those 10 and done. I'm also an "older" student, so I get the desire to get it started and get it done. There are many programs that don't require the GRE at all. My school requires it, but my profs say they literally don't look at it, and at this point it's just an added data point and it doesn't factor into admission yet so other schools could be the same. I did get rejected from one school I applied to because my quant score was 148 (I asked why/what I could do to improve and that was their answer), even though my overall was 310 so it does vary school to school. https://home.coa.us.com/accredited-programs/Pages/CRNA-School-Search.aspx This site is helpful to compare bare bones numbers and prices between schools. Good luck!

It'll depend on each person and other factors like credit, etc. I did grad plus for the first year but this year I got a better rate with Sallie Mae private lender--think it was a health professionals one. Get the best rate you can.... just get through school, and then when you get out consolidate. I hear when you consolidate you get get lower rates as in 3-4% depending on the loan term you pick like 5 or 10 years as compared with 15. I hear So Fi, Laurel road, and earnest are good choices for consolidation.

I have a resume, which I have tweaked over the years depending on what I job I have applied for and is about a page long, and I used that to apply to school as well. My understanding is that a CV is much more involved and lengthy than a resume, and includes honors, grades, certs, job details, any research I have done....all much more in depth than a resume allows for. I could be wrong though, I think my program has us create one in our professional practice class down the road so I'm somewhat waiting for that.

The job you are taking sounds exactly like what I'm looking for. If you don't mind PM'ing me, I'd love to take a look at where it is. I want independence, blocks, lines, and 200 W2---and if there are 3 12s, that would be my dream job as well-- leaving me free to pick up per diem or locums to knock the nasty student loans down. There are locations we have in mind but the right job could trump that, we are very willing to move. Thank you for answering my question too, so you were about 10 months out when you applied. I still have to create a CV, so that's on the list of things to do. I too feel very lucky to be in this market and this career. My rural site where I'm at now, the CRNA says it wasn't like this 10 years ago, so very lucky.