Focker

I think I used THAM once in the ICU, not seen it used yet in my time as a CRNA. My understanding of THAM was that, like you said, it is like a bicarb gtt, but it doesn't metabolize back into CO2. If you give bicarb to anyone on an end tidal CO2 monitor, you will see just how much bicarb converts into CO2 by the spike in etco2. In the big picture, bicarb is a short term solution for base deficit that in the long run can actually contribute to acidosis. The theoretical benefit of Tham is that it shifts the bodies pH back toward 7.4 without CO2 as a biproduct (*I think). At one point I could do equations with avagadro's number and find how much co2 was contained in an amp of bicarb and stuff like that, but no longer. Anyway, this is just off the top of my head, so if I'm wrong, please correct me.

50" plasma, snowboard trip to Utah

Haha, I love your use of terminology redcell, I'm going to incorporate that into my practice (CRNAs love when you tell them that). But on a serious note, I didn't hear anything new about sugamadex, as far as I was hearing, it was doing great in trials, you have a link or something that says why the FDA boogered it?

I don't personally know of anyone who has failed after only 100 questions, but for sure it has happened, though I doubt its a common occurrence. I felt the same way you did after taking just a 100 questions, all my classmates I've talked to said the same thing too. You expect it to be like a lot of the other tests you've taken, where if you study for 2 months, you will go in and nail every question. But I think because of the computer adaptive nature of the test, the more prepared you are, the tougher the test will be. A lot of very well prepared SRNAs walk out of that thing wondering if they passed or not, me included. I cannot understand why they won't tell you immediately whether you passed or failed when the computer shuts off at 100. Obviously the computer knows for sure that you don't need 70 more questions, it should be easy enough to let the person know why so that they don't suffer through the next few weeks just wondering how they did.

If you think all 81 chapters are pertinent, the only way you could break that much material down is to set a reading schedule over the next 2 months and stick with it. 2 months = 60 days = 1.3 chapters every single day. If you stick with it, only 1 or 2 chapters every day shouldn't be too hard, you might even be able to get ahead of schedule and spend more time on the tough parts. Thats how you have to break down study material for the boards, otherwise it would seem like an insurmountable volume of material.

For me, the actual course itself wasn't much help, not really worth the cost. But the materials, sweat book and memory master, are definitely helpful. You could definitely get by without the class.

I just finished taking the CCNA examination after like two months of studying valley nonstop. It cut off at 100, so that should be a good thing. maybe:no: I am not going to get into specific questions because I would like them to not bar me for life, but I went through most of the test without feeling like I for sure knew the answer to the questions. More often than not, I could reasonably eliminate all but two, but there were so many that I could have gone either way on. Its probably a good thing when you feel confused during the test as maybe that means they keep giving you the hard ones. But during the test, it doesn't feel like that, you feel like you keep getting questions wrong. I took valley to study for the test, and I know for sure that it helped, since it gave me a guideline to structure my studying around. I am now in the column of test-takers who can say that nothing on the actual test resembled the valley questions I studied, though some covered the same topics of course. Now I have about a month to do with whatever I please before I start working, strange feeling.

Haha, the interviews at case western for next year just got a little more interesting

Dude, you have a masters degree. I think that nullifies your undergrad grade struggles. It shows you've matured. If you do as well in the ABSN program that you get into as you did for your master's degree, you'll be golden.

I'd go ahead and take it, besides the fact that it can only help you get into anesthesia school, your current employer should pay for you to take it, and there may be a pay raise for completing it. Just study the questions from a review book and take a few practice tests, you know most of the stuff anyway, its not that bad. When a school is looking at an application, they will look at the overall picture, if you have a weakness (lower GPA, lower GRE, etc.) think of the CCRN as something to balance that out. More than anything, schools want to see that you are serious about getting in, even if you dont have a weakness, taking the CCRN, shadowing, taking classes ahead of time, saving up money, etc. shows that you are really committed. I was able to participate in my school's interview process this year and you would be surprised what some people bring to the table (or more specifically, don't bring to the table).

I'm in the Duke program, maybe a typo or something, but at least one year of ICU experience is definitely required. I don't think a nurse anesthesia program exists that doesn't have that requirement.

I'm letting mine lapse, I don't see the point in keeping it

I know everyone else says you have to have it down before going to school, but I can tell you that I had minimal IV skills when I started CRNA school. Like a few other people have said, my ICU patients had central lines a lot of the time or they came up from ER with IVs, so I didn't do that many iv starts. You have the knowledge to do an IV what you need is practice; in CRNA school, you will suck at first, then when you get more practice/gain more confidence you will be great at them, after about a hundred or so IV starts, noone will ever know you used to suck at them. That said, if you do have the opportunity to get some more practice in before you start school, go ahead and take advantage of it. Starting off a case with a smooth, pain-free IV start in your patient can make your short time with the patient all that much better, it may be the only thing you do for them that they remember.

They are pretty much the same test. I got almost the same score on both, though that is probably more coincidence than anything else since I took them years apart, obviously.

How is it determined that a pt. has had awareness when they have no recall of it? Many of the accounts I hear from pts (a good example is the tkr in one of the above posts) are examples of awareness during a mac case, not general. That could be partially resolved with education and better explanations to the patients about the type of anesthesia they are about to receive.