chemokine

CRNAs can definitely specialize. I'm an SRNA now but at my current facility cardiac is a specialty meaning it is something optional that not all CRNAs choose to do. At another group, OB is a speciality. Another does only peds. You can definitely choose to work in say a GI center where you only do those cases if you want to. There are various setups.

Definitely apply to a school where you can just get an LOR from the charge nurse. If you insist on this school, then you accept the wait that comes along with it.

I would take the neuro job since you know you have it. If you pass it up you might wind up with nothing. I was a neuro ICU nurse not in a level 1 trauma center and I'm an SRNA now. It's good experience.

As a CRNA, you can choose a job that offers the call schedule you like. If you don't want any call, there are jobs for that. If you really want to be in a specific city then there may only be a few groups servicing that city and you may have a more limited choice regarding call and other aspects of the job.

Anna Flaxxis had perfect advice. My two cents: Don't start a big deal over this. Don't bring it up to management. Don't confront the CNA's about it. Just lay-low, do your time, and move on to some other place once you are an RN.

It doesn't matter where you get your BSN as long as it is accredited. Go to the community college and save money.

That class at UNE I've heard is WAY more difficult than necessary for applying to CRNA. You may want to consider dropping it and taking something more reasonable at a local university.

Current SRNA here. This is what I did. 1) Applied for ICU job. Did not ever mention anything about CRNA during interview. When asked where I see myself in five years, I replied with something like "Getting CCRN, precepting, working on my MSN" 2) Applied to CRNA school "in secret" never mentioning it to anyone except the two people on the unit I got a recommendation from. I did not use the unit manager for a recommendation since the manager never saw me working clinically (night shifter). Instead I used one charge nurse and my preceptor. 3) Went to CRNA school interview and was accepted. I did not tell anyone on the unit about this. 4) Charge nurse asked me one day after a few months if I ever got accepted so I told him yes. 5) Had to wait 6+ months between acceptance and the time to quit my job. Still kept everything as secret as possible. By now though the charge nurse must have told some other people because I had a few people asking me about CRNA school. If people asked me I would talk to them about it but otherwise I didn't initiate such conversations. 6) Once I knew I was going to leave the ICU in a month, I gave my manager 30 days notice. This was the first and only time I specifically mentioned the letters "CRNA" to my manager. Some people might think I'm too calculating with my strategy but I took the approach that I thought was safe for me and as courteous as necessary to those who needed to know. Bottom line: Your manager doesn't need to know anything until you give your notice. If you were leaving for any other reason, you would just give your notice and be done with it. There is no need to tell them 6 months in advance or give them a play by play for every interview and acceptance you get. If you want to be "friends" with your manager, that's fine but this is an extra, unnecessary step that can't possibly help you but could make your remaining time there more of a pain. Just apply, get accepted, and tell them when you are ready to leave the job (2 weeks or 30 days notice, whichever is the norm where you are).

Propofol spoils (like milk) so it comes in sealed bottles that must be drawn up. I've never seen it prefilled in a syringe I figured for this very reason. It is good for only 12 hours after being drawn up.

If you want to be a CRNA, you can start by trying to get a practicum in the ICU. Otherwise you can try for a step down unit practicum. Another idea is to get a job as a nurse tech in an ICU while in nursing school. Just anything to get your foot in the door and some familiarity with critical care. Your main focus for now should be learning about critical care since that is where you will need to put in your time before applying to CRNA school. I wasn't able to secure an ICU practicum in nursing school unfortunately although many students did. It got my spirits down but I eventually got into an ICU job after working PCU first. Now im an SRNA. Sometimes things dont go as fast as you would like but if you stay committed then you can get there eventually.

The only thing holding you up is the GRE. You can do PALS after being accepted and you can just tell them you are taking chemistry and that should be enough to get the interview if your stats are what they are looking for. If you are accepted, they will give a provisional acceptance provided you complete those other things. GRE has to be done before interview though. Edit: Double check with them to make sure, but pretty sure about this.

There is no upper limit on how much experience you can have prior to CRNA. 5 or 6 years is great. Some people do it after 20+ years. Most probably about 3 years I think. You don't have to have a degree to shadow a CRNA or anesthesiologist. The CRNA has a lot of responsibility, and there might not be an anesthesiologist depending on the practice. Even if you do work in an ACT practice, you will still have a lot more ability to decide things on your own than a bedside nurse. CRNA is a provider level practitioner. You can definitely do aid work as a CRNA around the world. Look up doctors without borders. CRNAs are in high demand. If you just want to work in another country, you can do that too depending on the country. The scope of practice can vary though in other countries.

She would have said, "Mine does. Look." [pulls pants down]

If the school loses its accreditation while you are attending then you are out of luck. Even if the school stays open and you finish out the program (not sure if that's possible) then your degree would not be recognized since you would have graduated from an unaccredited school. Disclaimer: I have no idea if this school will lose its accreditation and dont mean to imply that it will. I'm just answering your question.

I got them from my preceptor and a charge nurse. This should be fine unless the school is really specific that it has to be the unit manager. If it just says "clinical supervisor" this almost certainly is not specific to a unit manager. In fact a unit manager is probably not a clinical supervisor in many cases. My unit manager was never in any way my clinical supervisor.