utahliz

You will find widely varied answers to this question. I had a previous degree in chemical engineering, so I had many credit hours of chemistry for chem majors. For my BSN, I had to re-take chemistry, so I took 8 credits of freshman chem (basic inorganic) for chem majors,, and 4 credits of combined biochem and organic. Because the biochem/organic class was way too little depth for me and I wanted something tough on my transcript when I applied to CRNA programs, I took 4 credits of organic for chem majors. It may not have been necessary, but I have only 2 years nursing experience and wanted to maximize my chances of acceptance. Plus the biochem class left me wanting more. If you have a year of inorganic and a semester of biochem or organic, you should meet the requirements, but you need to check with each program for their specifics to make sure.

My best recommendation is to try other schools next year, if she's able. But I wonder what they are concluding from the interview and what feedback they offer from the interview itself. The thing is, it's a bit of a crapshoot to get in. There are so many many more qualified applicants than there are positions. I believe that nearly everyone who gets an interview is fully qualified. Each program wants good grades, good GRE scores, good experience and recommendations, and evidence of leadership. But what they value most differs from school to school. And with more applicants every year, what made for a competitive appicant is a moving target. It sounds like her best bet is to apply to more schools next time, if she's still of a mind to take a crack at it.

Contact the schools to find out for sure. Nothing beats hearing it from the horse's mouth, as well as establishing a relationship with the school prior to submitting an application.

Has she asked what would make her a more competitive applicant next time around? It may be something readily correctable that she is unaware of. Or it may be concerns about how long she has been a nurse, and her challenge is to change preconceived ideas about that. If she gets interviews and doesn't get in, perhaps it's the way she comes across in the interview. Is she continuing to take more classes, retake the GRE, etc. to show continued growth? Every program has their own particular priorities, and it's hard to know what to tell you/her without more info.

You may call compressions on a sternotomy patient unfortunate and gross and do it because your policy does not prohibit it, but ours does.

I have a nursing school classmate who is in a CNM program now, and apprenticed as a home birth midwife before nursing school to see the other end of the spectrum, which is closer to where she really hoped to be able to practice--offering the option of minimal intervention to the women who want it that way. She said that OB/GYN's will not back up CNM's who attend home births, and the malpractice insurance companies require not attending home births. Of the hundreds of home births she attended--including primips and VBAC's, they were all successful deliveries at home or they went to the hospital in plenty of time when things took a turn. After having a mismanaged hospital labor that resulted in a placental abruption and ruptured uterus, I was very frustrated to find out in nursing school just how badly mismanaged my labor was. I think midwives ought to be the norm, OB/GYN's step in if there is a serious problem, and deliveries would be safer and less invasive.

We treat albumin as a medication, not a blood product, though we get it from the blood bank. We never require signed consent, though if I had a Jehovah's Witness pt. I would ask them what their wishes were. Though albumin is derived from blood, it does not need to by typed or cross-matched. We give a lot of albumin to pts. who are low or need it as a volume expander.

I used Dr. Laura's DVD's--love, love, love them! and the older edition (2nd) of Pass CCRN, just for the questions. I hear that the new edition of Pass CCRN has many more questions. I have 1.5 yrs experience in a busy SICU, and wanted to prove to myself I could do it. I bought my review books when I started working there and studied a little here and there, then hit the books hard a few weeks ago. Since I started working there, I learned that it can help my chances of getting in to CRNA school, too, so that's a bonus. There's a group of my co-workers who went to a 2-day review in October (not Dr. Laura) and are planning to take the exam in March. But I like challenges and didn't want to wait that long.

I used Dr. Laura's DVD's--love, love, love them! and the older edition (2nd) of Pass CCRN, just for the questions. I hear that the new edition of Pass CCRN has many more questions. I have 1.5 yrs experience in a busy SICU, and wanted to prove to myself I could do it. I bought my review books when I started working there and studied a little here and there, then hit the books hard a few weeks ago. Since I started working there, I learned that it can help my chances of getting in to CRNA school, too, so that's a bonus. There's a group of my co-workers who went to a 2-day review in October (not Dr. Laura) and are planning to take the exam in March. But I like challenges and didn't want to wait that long.

I've been a lurker here because my firewall often causes problems when I try to post. But I muddled through it today to say a big THANK YOU to all who have posted here, because it helped me pass--just got home. Whew, am I ever glad that's over!!!! Liz, CCRN:balloons:

I've been a lurker here because my firewall often causes problems when I try to post. But I muddled through it today to say a big THANK YOU to all who have posted here, because it helped me pass--just got home. Whew, am I ever glad that's over!!!! Liz, CCRN:balloons:

We generally take another pt. with an IABP pt, but there are exceptions if they're really unstable.

Thanks for the thoughts. I should have added that the pt. was not acidotic, either. Well, I'll have to keep an eye out for this in the future and see if it occurs again. Love the mysteries that make us think hard and put our heads together!

I had a direct-return open-heart last night. Returned on dobutamine and Levo, weaned the Levo off almost immediately. Treated a marginally-low K, around 3.9 I think, with 20 mEq per orders. Gave a boatload of blood products for an apparent clotting disorder-- 4 units PRBC's, 4 units FFP, cryoprecipitate, 6 pk platelets, plus protamine, and started an insulin gtt for elevated blood sugar. On the follow-up check of labs, K was up to 5.1. Pt. had great urine output. The K should have been down, not up. Colleagues didn't have any ideas. Normal Na level made me think that it wasn't an adrenal issue. All I could come up with was that there was a hemolytic process going on somewhere. Other than the bleeding issues, hemodynamics were steady with good numbers, she looked good, neuros intact. Any thoughts on this?

Our protocol can be applied to everyone EXCEPT DKA and HHNK patients, if an attending invokes it. Those with DKA or HHNK have orders specifically written for each patient, because of the extreme impact of fluid and electrolyte balances, and risk of cerebral edema, that the super-high blood sugars and too-rapid correction can entail.