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I was just wondering what your thoughts were regarding the time frame of when to take boards after graduation. I would like to take mine sooner than later but I want to make sure I am prepared at the same time. Any helpful advice would be appreciated.

Thanks for your response. I don't have any experience w/ edrophonium yet. At the institution where I am doing clinicals at, the neostigmine/robinol combo is used (in adults). In your experience, what seems to work best? Which is used more commonly? I'd like to get different perspectives. Thanks a bunch!

In your daily practice, do you usually reverse some of the shorter acting agents like mivacron (after full return of twitches)? What about nimbex? I have seen it done different ways. Your responses would be greatly appreciated!

"what are the chances that i may go through all of this and be stuck as an rn- (obviously a valued profession, just not exactly what i personally want to do)." blb, i'm certain that you meant no harm when you posted the above. however, please understand that "rn" is at the heart of being a crna. it is what differentiates us from the other anesthesia professionals. many of us take pride in our nursing experience. although, not all rns are advanced practice nurses (such as crnas or fnps). all advanced practice nurses are rns first. i understand that you want to be an advanced practice nurse from the start. i applaud your goals. i wish i would have had my act together at such a young age! my point is that even when you become a crna, you are still an rn. in the future, the term "stuck" may not be the best choice to use. should you find yourself working in an icu one day, it will probably be the expert critical care nurses that you referred to as being "stuck" that will be your best teachers-just be careful! anyway, good luck with all of your educational endeavors. you sound very bright. if there are any anesthesia and/or nursing related questions that i can answer for you, please pm me, i would be glad to help.

At my program (Charlotte, NC) having a MSN already will shave off 5 classes. This is a whole lot less than what you will have to take in completing a full MSN program. And you are right, it will not decrease the length of program, just the load. If I am correct, you would get a post-masters certificate in nurse anesthesia (not another MSN). At UNCC, we are allowed to take a couple of graduate courses ahead of time with an undeclared major which can then go toward our anesthesia degree when we are accepted. Also, once we are accepted and if there is enough of a gap in time before you actually start, you can take additional graduate courses. I was able to take some classes ahead of time before I was accepted which has been extraordinarily helpful. Also, it can give you an edge with getting accepted into a program, especially if these grades are good. If it were me, I would not complete another program unless I was truly interested in it for its sake. I would take the classes as a "post-bacculaureate" student if you have an option. If not an option, some generic graduate courses such as theory or physiology may be able to transfer into the program of your choice. I would verify the transfer ability of these courses before I took them with your university choice. Hope this helps.

Dear Lisa, I am so happy that I could be of assistance to you. It has been said that nurse anesthesia is one of the best-kept secrets in healthcare. I believe this to be true. One website that will give you answers to many of your questions is the official site for the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (www.aana.com) . Also there is a forum on "allnurses" for nurses in anesthesia/ persons working toward it. It is quite interesting and will answer many of your questions as well. Yes, I am in grad school for anesthesia. I have been taking some of the general courses in the curriculum over the last year but will be starting full-time anesthesia coursework next week. I plan to work for an anesthesia group upon graduation. They are providing tuition assistance in exchange for an employment commitment after graduation. I will administer anesthesia to all types of patients- from open-heart surgery to epidurals for mothers-to-be. Yes, there are also CRNAs that contract with plastic surgery offices. Your guess was right-we administer the anesthetic and monitor the patient throughout the procedure. We are watching the patient while the surgeon is doing his thing. We work alongside anesthesiologists. Depending in which state and facility you practice, you may be "directed" or "supervised" by anesthesiologist in an "anesthesia care team". It is an ongoing political issue that I will not get into here. In many rural areas there are no anesthesiologists and the CRNAs work independently (they "collaborate" with the surgeon). I think the accelerated BSN is a great idea! You definately need a BSN if you are thinking about doing the anesthesia route. Although some schools will sometimes accept a non-nursing bachelor's degree, your time will be best spent working on a BSN since you will need to go back and get a nursing degree anyway. Should you decide on anesthesia, you will need to get at least one year of critical care experience. I have been working in critical care for many years. I will be glad to help answer any questions about types of critical care-there are many (medical, surgical, coronary, neuro, etc). Most schools prefer adult critical care experience. Some will accept neonatal and/or pediatric but it is more limited. I hope all of this information isn't too overwhelming. If you want, you can send me a private message. I would be glad to speak with you over the telephone and answer more specific questions. :) Sincerely, Kathy

Critical care, although quite rewarding, is not the best place to work with a bad back in most facilities. Many of the patients require maximal assistance and lifting help can be hard to find at times. PACU can require a lot of transferring of patients. Home health is a great option. Depending on your educational background, nurse education may be an option. Good luck!

Lisa, Specialization occurs after you graduate from (undergraduate) nursing school. You can get a job in plastics once you obtain licensure. However, should you decide to go to grad school, there will be many specialties to choose from. With your surgical interests, one graduate specialty that you may be interested in pursuing is nurse anesthesia. That is the specialty I have chosen to study. Let me know if I can be of further assistance.

My hospital uses "Favorite Nurses".

Congratulations!! I know how excited you must be! I, too will be starting school next month (not at Mountain State). Thought it would never get here. It sounds like you were focused and wasted no time in your pursuit-Good for you!!:rotfl:

Once you complete your BSN and start your application process for anesthesia school, I recommend taking graduate level courses that are in the anesthesia curriculum (i.e. physiology, theory, stats etc). Earn A's in these classes. It will not only lighten your load once you are in but will demonstrate that you can do well at the graduate level. It will also show that you are serious in your pursuit. Good Luck!

If you know now that you plan to apply to anesthesia school in the future, I would definately go with the BSN. It will meet the educational requirement of any anesthesia school whereas the non-nursing bachelor's degree will be limiting. It probably won't take you much more time to get your BSN since you already have a degree. There are even some programs that have "accelerated" BSN programs for folks that already have a college degree. Best of luck in whatever you decide.

Thanks for the good advice.:rotfl:

if the school you wish to apply to accepts either test then take the mat. as you know, for the mat you will only have to focus on analogies. it will take less prep time and test time overall as compared to the gre. however if you wish to apply to other schools the gre should cover you in all of them. i took both of them. good luck!