Alpha13

Consdering you do as much as the old guy who stands at the front of the walmart, that's a good wage.

You made a big mistake careerwise HD

I could not stand to be hungry all day either! I do the (relatively) normal exercise/healthy diet routine right now. Maybe one day they'll be saying that extra mass is bad!

I was talking about these diets IN GENERAL as they are touted (not some snickers bar diet)

I have heard that they increase lifespan. Even if this is true, at what cost? Your thoughts appreciated.

Well believe it. Some people want to help others without getting arm deep in bodily fluids. My cousin is like that and going for radiologist. I know him and don't think of myself as any better than him for not minding the dirty work.

All you guys saying no... what what you rather have been instead? Most other professions are also having problems nowadays (law, medicine, engineering, IT, any social science and high level teaching job, etc)

I think this is an area where the idealism of nursing theory seperates from real world practice. Healthcare is a business just like any other and has limited resources. In the real world sometimes you just have to "let the bad apples rot" to protect the good ones.

I will never understand how these religious types draw conclusions. Explain to these people that medical opinions are not wild speculation pulled out of the air and that they should listen to them instead of just assuming that some divine intervention will happen and magically cure their child. This sounds harsh but it's better to bring them to reality now than let them hope and sulk for a lifetime.

I've read elsewhere on this board that a nice alternative to agencies is to contact hospitals for agency type work and represent yourself, eliminating the middleman (agency). It has the many benefits: 1. You can ask for a higher hourly rate and still be very competitive since most agencies pay out something like half of what they bill the hospital. 2. If you don't like per diem you can negotiate contracts that pay regardless of whether you are needed or not (so cancellation = free payday) 3. You don't have to abide by any agency rules which include experience requirements. This is good for newer nurses who want to jump into agency work (like myself) though it will also make you less marketable. You don't have to be a doctor to contract your services guys. Take the initiative and wield the power of that BSN!

Regardless I still think you should seperate your work from your hobbies. Find out how much income you want and work that many hours as a CRNA. Then spend whatever extra time you like doing some charity work (that utilizes your RN skills if you like). IMO working as an RN just because you like the work when you hold advanced practice certification is strange and I doubt you will find anyone who does that. Maybe you should become a NP instead?

Indeed it does sound crazy. The practice of anesthesia is the most valuable skill a CRNA has, so spending any significant amount of time doing lesser paid work like regular staff RN duties doesn't make sense financially. You might as well work part time as a CRNA and devote your other hours to charity.

Maric is like Devry college, it is not a real college. (Its just a vocational school) The units you take there won't be transferable and you're paying about $30,000 a year in tuition when you could get it much cheaper elsewhere. I'd go to a legitimate CC if I were you.

Ok first of all please don't call me a girl anymore because I'd be the ugliest girl you every saw! Second I don't have kids but some a friend of mine does. I've seen her try to study with her kid around, and she just couldn't do it with the baby in the room making a fuss and requiring constant attention. Frankly I'm surprised that some of you would even disagree with this. Has your hearing developed in such a way that you can tune out the baby sounds and concentrate on your study material or what? I stand by my advice because while it won't be popular especially to the moms, it is practical and will allow you to focus on the task at hand. If necessary stick a baby monitor in the room with the volume set low and only go over when he really starts making a ruckus (if you're familiar with your child you probably knows when he is BS crying for attention and when he's not)

I disagree with the people who disagreed with me. Don't forget your priorities here: you have only one shot at doing well on your finals which could ultimately determine your fate in nursing. However, you have many chances to answer to the whims of a child (as my mom tells me, "it never ends"). Keeping focused during this critical time is hard enough without a little baby crawling around your work area and crying. Of course other people will tell you this is not so and the child always comes first. This is politically correct rhetoric that will damage your grades! And seriously don't you have someone to care for him, maybe a spouse or relative? If not you may have to stick him in a playpen for a while with some toys and a TV dialed to a cartoon channel. Don't worry, he won't remember what you did and he'll be better off in the future because of your pro-activeness :)

You need to step up and take responsibility for your actions (or lack of them). Forget your baby. Forget your bad college. Starting going over all of your notes in a barricaded room where nothing except for a bit of light from a small window can get into the room and study you ass off! This is how you survive finals week!

wow I had no idea epilepsy was so common. Are you guys still allowed to drive?

The most I can possibly make as an ICU new grad with benefits where I live in the Inland Empire is $30 an hour and the average is really more like $28 so ... the base pay is more like $52 to $56K. With night differentials you can get up to about $60K base. I could make up to $38 an hour in some ICU jobs, but that's without benefits. As far as ICU pay in five years, I'm not sure why that matters since you'd hopefully be in CRNA school by then. I was being generous when quoting the RN salary so there wouldn't be any dispute there. I believe that salary could be made in the more popular areas, but yes if you want to live out in the more rural areas the RN pay goes down even further. And from what I've read, CRNA salaries do just the opposite, in more rural areas they go up. I was quoting the 5 year salary for RN because this is obviously a rough comparison between an RN and CRNA salary. What job pays nearly $100K a year as a regular RN? The CA state department of corrections and mental health are now paying that much because a federal judge has taken over the medical system and is forcing them to pay higher salaries. ... Those numbers have actually been posted on this board many times. After you put some time in and get promoted to various supervisory and other positions, the pay can get up to $10K a month or $120K in 3-4 years. So, the income loss at least in the initial four years is quite substantial, especially when you add the $100K+ debt and lost pension benefits. I doubt very much that a new RN can get to that salary level in 4 years. Additionally you are quoting figures from perhaps the best paying RN jobs in the entire country. I'd be willing to bet that less than 1% of the RN population makes that kind of salary. When you quote from positions like that you need to stick in some kind of disclaimer because otherwise you ARE slanting numbers. Also as I mentioned before, 100k in debt is not 100k that needs to (or even should be) paid immediately. Rather it's like a 10k bill for next 10-15 years or so, so if you want to compare salaries with the debt expense included then subtract that off the CRNA salary. As far as comparing benefits again there is no comparison as CRNA benefits are far superior. Signing bonus, relocation bonus, 4-6 paid vacations, 401k match, insurance covered, all are not uncommon. Even if you make up to $250,000 a year as a CRNA, how much do you actually net after health and retirement benefits, malpractice insurance, other expenses, etc. if you have to pay for all of those things yourself? Retirement alone is extremely expensive if you're self employed and don't have employer contributions ... and retirement is a very big issue for me personally. Not 250k, but still quite a bit. You're right that managing finances becomes much more challenging for non-salaried positions, but I think someone who can get through a CRNA school and would consider such positions can manage. It's not even that hard with the guidance of a decent financial advisor. I was just pointing out that these are some of the things people might want to look at. That's all. It looks to me that you are undermining (perhaps unintentionally) the financial benefits that CRNAs enjoy. I'll say again, there is NO comparision in pay between the two professions. Maybe if you compare a $120k supervisory RN position to a CRNA position in the future discounted for healthcare reforms (that have not happened and are thus pure speculation) then yes, they are comparable. With real world numbers however, they are not. I don't mean to berate you, I just don't want others to be led astray

To say the least your numbers are a bit slanted. Are you talking about becoming a travel nurse for that $100k/year figure as a regular RN? Because if not, I don't see how you would make only 55-60% of other RN jobs as an ICU nurse. In So Cal. ICU pays the same as any other field. As for using $120k as the salary for CRNAs, first of all this is on the lower end of the pay scale. Second, obviously this figure is not static and will rise quickly as CRNA gains experience. More accurate figures would be something like this: New grad ICU RN salary: ~65k-75k from year 1, up to 90k on year 5. CRNA school costs: 100k/2 years New grad CRNA salary: $130k from year 1, $140k-$150k from year 3. If a new CRNA was to pay off his debt as quickly as possible, he'd catch up to the regular RN in about 2 years. But numbers don't tell the whole story. The CRNA has vastly greater earnings potential than the RN, enough so that he's gone from "decent middle class bloke" to "upper middle class yuppie." If he's smart with his finances and career prospects, he can go even higher. The RN has very little upward potential in comparison. Sure, he can move into traveling or management, but that's about it. Honestly there's no comparison here in terms of earnings potential.

Hello, Our instructor was telling us that the common limit in hospitals and textbooks for urine output before intervention is at 30 ml/hr. She said that she strongly disagrees with this figure, because at that level the kidney is outputing half of the amount of urine it should be. She says that often by waiting that long, most of the patient's nephrons are destroyed resulting in serious kidney damage or even failure. Do you guys find this to be true? Our instructor is very intelligent and experienced, but she is giving a tall order by saying that all the hospitals and books are wrong about the right output level to intervene at. Alpha

His whole post was just classless which was especially ironic for this thread. I admit I was kind of harsh, but even still I didn't point out everything that I could have. Bottom line is that "class" can be more internally focused, and not just what you do or how much you make.

Not that I agree with labeling LPNs as lower class but I have to play devil's advocate with you: 1. You guys live in Detroit 2. You have 3 young children presumably before either of you have finished your education. 3. "I'd probably have a flashback to Bierut on their a@@ and it wouldn't matter if they were male or female" Wow. Not a very classy thing to say or do my friend. IMO sometimes one's level of class has nothing to do with their qualifications.

If by aged care you mean teenaged care then yes I am all for it

What makes you think that the CRNA profession is above the task of fighting for its interests? Are nurses special in some regard that the docs and AAs just aren't? And do you honestly think that CRNAs should just sit back and allow the AA's to expand to every part in the country and merrily co-exist with the other anesthesia providers? Be very thankful, platon, that not all CRNAs have their heads in the clouds to believe such non-sense. They live in the real world where money and politics are real, and not some strange indecency to be shied away from. They fight for your profession and your interests while you ridicule them with your holier than thou attitude. How sad.

You are very confused about what is good for CRNAs my friend. Guys, I know it's tempting to use every opportunity to start a debate about AAs but is this really a good time to? Please I implore you, do everything you can too stop this bill. I know if a bill like that ever comes to Cali I'm going to be known by name to my congresspeople. I'd call every day, mail every day, start a political rally at my school ("Support our troops overseas.. and stop the AA bill!"), even grease the wheels a bit if I could. Not that I hate AAs mind you, hell I'm a liberal Californian so I like pretty much anything. But these outsiders are a threat to our profession, and thus our well being! Are you proud texans going to allow it in your state? I'm being a bit facetious, but seriously don't treat this thing like some pidley little nuisance guys, because if you do, it will come back to bite you. Alpha