Lucy54

Pronunciation is the key. I may not be spelling all of these correctly, but working as a travel nurse in a Los Angeles ER provided me with a few triage phrases that may help. wake up: abre los ojos (open your eyes) abre la boca (open your mouth) respire profundemente (take a deep breath) tiene dolor (do you have pain) then point to throat or surgical site and say "aqui" (here?) hace frio? (are you cold?) Pre-op tiene alerjias a medicinas (do you have any allergies to medications) tiene problemos medicos? (any medical problems?) altopression, diabetes? (high BP, diabetes) tiene dolor in el pecho? (do you have pain in your chest?) tome medicinas (do you take any medications)

I had 4 years of ER experience and a few months of ICU experience before applying to CRNA school. They gave me a pretty hard time for not having a full year of ICU, but I was accepted to the program. Usually depends on the school you're applying to.

That's true! Just goes to show how different all of these programs are. That's why it is really important to speak with the particular school that you plan on applying to before making any big decisions.

zoozoo, you think MICU is better than CCU????? RNCRNA2B, you need ICU experience regardless. In my opinion, CVICU provides the best preparation, but that is just my opinion. Is there not a hospital closer to home that has an ICU position available? You may not be very competitive if you have only "cross-trained" in an ICU, but talk to the school to see if they will still consider you before you make any decisions. Good Luck!

You should meet with the director of the program you plan on applying to and ask what he/she recommends as far as retaking classes. I can tell you from my experience that most programs will reqiure you to have at least a B in all of your science classes, so you may not have a choice. Even having a B average overall probably won't cut it. You will have to replace any C you have with a B or higher before even applying. My view is of course limited to a small area so you should definitely check with the school. Retaking a few classes is a small price to pay! Good Luck!

I was a travel nurse before applying to CRNA school. It can definitely add many positives to your application as previous posters have mentioned. The only thing that was a problem for me, was finding a good reference. You will need a reference from a co-worker and from your current supervisor. As an agency/travel nurse, you don't form those strong, long-term relationships with your co-workers and your nurse manager. While they will probably gladly fill out the reference form, this isn't always enough. Other applicants will have letters from nurse managers that have worked with them for years and know first hand what an excellent person/practicioner they are. You will really need to find someone that will sit down and write a long, sincere letter to the school. It's hard to ask someone that has only known you for a short time to do that, and most schools will want a rec from a current supervisor. I still think the positives outweigh the negatives, but just keep that in mind when you go to apply.

Sent you a PM

How much time you spend in the lab with your cadaver is entirely up to you. Well not entirely.....you will have mandatory hours during class time that you must spend in there. That amount of time is sufficient for some, but no where near enough time for most. At most schools, you will have access to the lab at all hours day and night so you can spend as little or as much time as you want. It's an incredibly challenging course for which you will need multiple resources including atlas', dissection manuals, and if you can find any online dissection videos, they will be extremely helpful. Good luck! Our anatomy teacher likened the class to opening up the yellow pages and memorizing it front to back!

Hey Phishininau, your PM inbox is full. Is that at a hospital in Alabama?

I had been an ER nurse for 3 1/2 years and had about 8 months of ICU under my belt when I applied. They actually did give me a pretty hard time. I had a good GPA and MAT but they didn't like the fact that I only had 8 months of ICU, despite almost 4 years in the ER. I ended up getting in as an alternate. There are some schools that say they will take ER, but if you're up against someone with the same GPA that has ICU experience, they will probably take that person over you. It also depends on your GRE scores, recommendations, and interview skills, but experience probably weighs the most. Get into an ICU asap. Good luck!

I figured you knew that, I just didn't want any other readers to get confused :) sent you a PM

Just a little FYI. Joe Williams is the Program Director for UAB. Michael Humber is the Director of Clinical Education. Wouldn't want anyone to get confused as to who they were interviewing with :) Dr. Williams is the head of the entire Nurse Anesthesia Program, Mr. Humber is the head of the clinical education portion of the program.

It Matters To Me!!! How Insensitive! Risk free? Mr. SWAT, you know absolutely nothing about my career and I know nothing about yours, but I'm not on a SWAT team member post now am i? Do you even know that all of us put in many years working as RN's in an ICU and then spend thousands of dollars trying to further our knowledge to insure YOUR safety when you need a life saving procedure. What you do is very honorable and YES you should be paid better, I'm not bashing your career, so please stop bashing mine. And wishing that I get sued........I would never wish that on anyone

Hey Kiteman, I don't know what you do for a living, but get back to us when you've put in 45 years of practice with people's lives in your hands. I'd love to see you sweat when someone's airway is gone and everyone looks to you to get a tube down their throat to save their life. Or when their blood pressure bottoms out to a level that is incompatible with life and YOU are the person who has to decide, within seconds, what drug to give to save them. Seriously, who are you to "put someone in their place" You do your job and we'll stick to ours. Are you a CRNA?? Obviously not or you would NEVER criticize an older, most intelligent practictioner who was just giving insight to a young person trying to decide what they want to do with their life. You need to go back and read that post again with a little less preconcieved bias.

1) front loaded program (all classwork for 2 semesters and then 18 months of clinical rotations), very high intensity. 2) Instructors are all highly qualified experts in their clinical field. The curriculum is very challenging, and you are required to maintain a B average. 3) Strengths are numerous, but a couple off hand are: flexibility of clinical sites in and around Birmingham and also in several other parts of the state; UAB has an incredible reputation for all aspects of medicine and the CRNA program has proven itself as one of the best for many, many years . Only weakness I can think of is that your class size is very large 60-70 students. I think Samford only has about 25. 4) It is a very competitive program. Make sure you have plenty of critical care experience and at least a 3.5 GPA (they ask for a 3.0, but you really need a 3.5 to rank among most applicants) Good luck!