crnabrian

There is no difference really. The end result is the same, you get to take the certification exam, and if you pass it, you get the "CRNA" credential. Personally, I would avoid a program run by the nursing department. Too much "nursing theory" and other stuff. There are programs run by professional CRNAs, not professional RNs. I get the feeling your question really is, will the cheapest program (Mayo) get me what I need. Yes.

Jobs are getting tougher to find, but it depends on the area of the country you want to live in how many jobs are available. You could use a recruiter, but a lot of employers are hesitant to use their services because of the cost involved. Do you know what state you want to live in? If so, I would advise going to that state's next state aana meeting. Most states have them at least twice a year. The aana website can help you find each state association's website. Once there, introduce yourself to as many CRNAs as possible, and tell them you are looking for a job and your situation. Maybe even have a little business card with your name and contact info to hand out. I would not advise passing out resumes to everybody. Personal contacts are how a lot of CRNA jobs are filled. Good luck.

The idea was to avoid the black box warning associated with Propofol. So why would CRNAs use it? More expensive than Propofol, and just does the same thing? (as I understand it) Although the message above says it is not as good. I have never seen it. And as for a propofol shortage, never saw that either.

Some do not agree, but I know the CRNA shortage is OVER. Just look at the postings at gaswork. I live in Oklahoma, not too long ago, there were 3 pages of CRNA jobs just for Oklahoma. There are now, today, 2 jobs. Not 2 pages, 2 JOBS. I know 50% of them are bad jobs. And both pay poorly. There was a shortage for a long time, but salaries went way up, and a lot of schools opened to pump out CRNAs.

And then I bet you will find that most CRNAs do not use precordial stethoscopes any more. Our monitors have become much more sophisticated, obliviating the need for precordials. Kind of like in the really olden days of keeping your finger on the patient's pulse throughout surgery.

I graduated from Barry's program, attrition was not high back then. But it is really really expensive. You may want to consider that.

I think you will find the crna programs require you to take THEIR science courses, and not allow transfer credit from elsewhere. Check this with the programs you are considering.

It has always been people go into anesthesia for the money, even when the money was considerably less than it is now. But I have noticed fairly recently that there are fewer open positions out there right now then in the recent past. Just go check out gaswork.com, if you ignore the recruitment postings, there are only about half the jobs listed then 1 year ago. But you may have to just trust me on that. I think the main reason for this is that a lot of new anesthesia schools have opened recently. So more CRNAs are being pumped out, you increase the supply, and demand drops. That of course, is only my opinion, others may differ. Just be aware, at least one CRNA out there thinks jobs are going to be a lot harder to get in the future.

Everyplace I have been, you work until you are done. Time of day did not matter really. But it is usually a full day. Now, a really big place will be doing surgery almost literally 24-7, and those places may have CRNAs working evening and night shifts, or 12 hour shifts.

In my eight years of being a crna, my pay has gone up 2 1/2 times from when I started. But most of those increases have occurred as a result of changing jobs.

It is kind of a joking terminology, means you are giving sedation, but so much the patient is totally asleep like a general anesthetic. Just no anesthetic gas, hence the name. Not always a bad thing, as long as the patient is breathing and keeping his sat up. Having to pull out the ambu bag is bad form.

Certainly the patient can have an epidural or spinal, as long as it is not a fresh tattoo. Barring other contraindications, of course.

I doubt it. They have done nothing but go up for years now.

I do not know how common this practice is, but my school paid absolutely no attention to GRE scores. They only required them because the university required them for admission to graduate programs. Their rationale for this was there are studies showing GRE scores have no relation to success in aneshesia school. So perhaps you could ask the schools you are considering what they look for in GRE scores?

Uhh, this patient was already asleep. I see it happen now and then. Deepening was probably the right thing to do. That and wait.

Most places that need CRNAs need them right now, and do not want to wait 2 or 3 years for you to graduate. Maybe some really big place that employs a lot of CRNAs will contract with you and pay for your schooling, since they will be sure they will still need CRNAs when you graduate. But why lock yourself in to a certain place when you graduate? They will have you over a barrel (under contract), and you may not get top pay. Look at the military - they will probably pay your way through school, but then you have to work for them for a LONG time to pay them back. And I probably make 4 times what you would start at in the service. Just bite the bullet - take out loans and then pay them backafter graduation. Just my opinion.

I would not worry about it - the CRNA certification is what you want. I graduated from Barry in 2000.

No, and I would not advise it. You want to be locked into where you work after graduation? Because that is what the payback would entail. I say get a loan and go into debt. With the money you will make after graduation, you will be able to afford to pay it back.

The school itself is probably the only place you could get that answer. But would they give you a totally correct answer? Maybe not if the pass rate is low. You would never know. But my advice, if you want it, is don't worry about what others did on the exam, worry about yourself. Study hard and long, take the board review course, and you will most likely do fine.

What would you like to know? Yes, the pay is great, better in some parts of the country than others. Autonomy? Always, but some jobs you have more than others. I currently work in a CRNA-only practice, but even if you have docs in your practice, they generally let you do your own cases. After all, we are well-trained professionals, and if we cannot be trusted to give anesthesia correctly, might as well not even be there. You can PM me if you wish. Brian Stephens, CRNA

Yes, a nurse tech I worked with in Tulsa has been accepted. Her name is Jody, but I cannot recall her last name. But she is very nice, friendly, and has excellent skills. Don't worry about NCLEX pass rates. You just do your best, study hard, and you should not have any problems. Brian Stephens, CRNA

Or you can do like I did, avoid a MSN program like it is the plague. Those are run by PhD nurses, and there is way too much bs. Some programs are totally run by CRNAs, and you learn anesthesia, not all that nursing theory cr*p. And I am not talking about the old certificate programs, you still get a Masters degree, but not in nursing.

Everybody does anesthesia a little differently. That does not mean someone is doing it wrong, just different from you! About the only thing I look at while bagging is tidal volumne.

Quite a few, perhaps all, have some form of distance learning. Probably because the schools have numerous clinical sites, and one professor teaching a class. But if you are thinking you can find a school where you can do the whole thing online, well, forget it. No such place.

I give it to most patients, 4mg to most, but if there are indications of PONV likely to occur, 10mg. Along with Zofran. Seems to work for me.