BeatOU

less. i came down and was offered $21 for a year experience at parkland

just apply! you may be the best applicant, despite not having adult experience.

phoooey on that rumor. i've done it about 3 different times.

I personally know SRNA's whose GPA's were less than 3.0 and I also know folks whose GRE's were less than 900 and still got in. When you don't have a perfect resume, you just have to apply to more schools and perhaps look out of your region. It's not like a CRNA school will cancel a school year if they don't have 10 students with 4.0's, 1400 GRE, and 25 years of experience. If you have to apply to a school who has a choice of 800 applicants then your chances of getting in with marginal GPA/GRE/Experience will be lower. hook'em.

The best adult ICU unit is the biggest one in the biggest hospital in the biggest city you can be hired in, preferrably a county hospital. You will see very sick patients because usually they wait till the last minute to get help before coming in because they don't have insurance and don't see a doctor regularly. Also, the larger hospitals 1000+ beds get a wide variety of patients. A teaching hospital is even more of a bonus. As far as medical, surgical, or cardiac, I think they all have plusses and minuses. Personally, I've worked a lot harder on bad GI bleeds, septic shock, and bad GSW patients than i have on a heart going bad. However, hearts usually have more toys to play with (chest tubes, swans, etc.) Now that's from a nursing standpoint, as a patient i wouldn't want to be in any of the situations. If you can't get in a huge urban mega hospital, don't distress. One director told me that if I had my CCRN and a year of experience, he didn't care if it was a 4 bed ICU; so take that for what it's worth. Good luck, Andy "Boomer Sooners! Nice job Rhett, here's an extra $20!"

there are already laws against impersonating an MD. why pass another, just enforce the ones we have

Sounds like a little Dr. lobbying attempting to come to fruition...

So my wife goes into labor, gets an epidural, and of course I'm all over watching it being placed. The CRNA was great, showed me how to do it, talked about school with me, and was overall awesome. And now I have some questions. First, she talked about the epidural space being a "potential space", could someone take the time to explain? My other question involved learning to place them. Though it can be a painful experience, learning a skill like an IV or NG placment the chances of massive injury are/seem remote, whereas poking around the spine seems as though it could cause some complications...I'd like to hear how people were taught at different schools? Thanks, Andy

Great post! In all of my interviews I specifically asked what the "care plans" would be like. The thought of doing stuff that doesn't relate to my practice makes me sick, or should I say make me have an "inability to facilitate a sense of well being, related to wasting my freaking time as evidenced by spending 4 hours on a care plan regarding the need for hugs." hook'em

excuse me, I am excited

how long till we hear where will be placed in clinicals? I for one and very excited!

a more rounded medical education...

That's what i was thinking when i started reading Miller for school.

dfk, Thanks for your thoughts. If an MDA has had clinical time prior to his anesthesia residency, then I drop my argument completely and without reservations. I thought they graduated med school and then started clinicals as an anesthesia intern, without any other clinical expereince. Basically, i thought they had a "front loaded" type program....all class room and then they are cut loose in the hospital. My assumption then was wrong. My argument wasn't that we're not better off for the experience, but that maybe it's not essential. If the anesthesiologists get clinical experience prior to anesthesia training, then so should we. If they don't, I don't think we should be required.

About this one year of experience debate. Why is it all right for an Anesthesiologist to be accepted to medical school without working for X many years as an ICU RN but to be a good CRNA applicant we must? Aren't CRNA's doing the same job as Anesthesiologists? I would like for someone to explain to me why an anesthesiologist can be accepted to medical school with no real world icu experience, but the thought of getting into CRNA school without a year of ICU experience "amazes" people. Seriously, I'm not trying to flame, I just wonder why they can do it, but not us. Has there been any discussion of relaxing this requirement? It would seem to me that allowing someone to get their BS and then immediately starting CRNA school would be a good thing and allow for a people to practice anesthesia longer. I would like to here from someone who disagrees with me on this. hook'em

Thanks Focker, Exactly what I wanted to hear

welcome, I can't speak for columbia's program, but I would advise you taking a look at the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section at the top of the CRNA forum. THis pretty much answers all the general questions. Quick answer--it depends on the program. The majority require a year of ICU experience though some count other hospital experience. GRE, GPA really depends on the applicant pool, i.e. the more popular the school the stricter they can be on the GRE GPA cutoffs. andy

well I have a question about the Postests on the CD from PASS CCRN.. You guys who used it to study for the CCRN, do you remember what scores you were getting before you took the real thing? Right now, I'm scoring in the 70-75% range and am trying to decide if that's high enough or if i should study a little more. Also, did any of you do the practice test AACN offers for $50. If so, was it worth it? laters, andy

No, there are some accellerated BSN programs. I agree with Darien, that would be a good way to go. Less headache explaining things in interviews.

It would depend how you spun it. If you said you just looked for the fastest route to becoming a CRNA I think you would be fine. I spent a large amount of time in my interview having to explain my "unique" RN status--I applied before I had my BSN, and only had a license with no degree attached to it. Some of the Schools didn't like it or couldn't understand it, but others it didn't phase at all. They seemed to like the fact I was able to think out of the box to reach my goals. However, if you could do the ADN program I would do it because its so much cheaper. good luck

Ok, i get it. I did the same thing at UT. We called it "Alternate Entry". However, i negotiated with them to get a BSN, instead of getting the masters. And I'll start CRNA school this spring, so no it won't hurt. BA vs. BS in BioChem prolly won't matter. What happened to me was I started working in the ICU and found out I could get into CRNA school with a year of experience while i had 2 years to finish my Alternate entry masters (in either public health, generic pediatrics, CNS, or management). I found the masters courses brutally annoying and spent every minute in class thinking "This doesn't further my CRNA education one frickin bit" so I ultimately made them give me a BSN. If i had your degree in biochem, i would have just quit and applied immediately to CRNA school instead of seeking the BSN. So maybe all you have to do is get through that one year and then apply!

Steve, I applaud your sense of honor in this situation. I do think this is a major flaw in the CRNA education system, namely, if you want to be a CRNA ASAP, you have to pretty much break Ole Man Kant's categorical imperative of not using a ICU unit as a means to an end. See the way I see it, it's the schools fault for requiring that year of experience. Now i know we're better off for the icu experience, but wouldnt an Anesthesiologist also be better off with being an ICU RN for a year before starting med school? If anyone says no, I'd sure like them to explain that to me. Lawyers don't have to be a paralegal before starting lawschool. Engineers don't have to be mechanics before engineering school, and dentists don't have to be dental hygenists before starting dental school. Yea each of these might be better off if they had to do these things, but they don't. What amazed me was the number of schools that were surprised to hear from me that my manager wouldn't write me a letter of rec because I had only been on the unit 8 months and he was bitter I was leaving so soon after starting. I couldn't blame him. good luck

I really think it depends on what school you are talking about. Some schools, I hear, get like 800 applicants (don't hold me to that, I've not verified that), while some schools get less than 50 applicants. When someone has a gazillion on their GRE, a 4.0, and invented ACLS and doesn't get into CRNA school, it's probably due to interview/philosophy conflicts with the school. That's why I think it's bold to apply to just one school.

Sounds like a good plan. My only comment would be that if you really want to be a CRNA, why just choose one school, especially one that is really competitive to get into? there are 90 some odd programs in the US; i would hate to see you not follow through with your dream because you only applied to one and got rejected.

Tatty, Answer 1: At competitive schools your med surge experience will be an easy way for them to weed you out from the get go. However, if you apply to a school that only has 30 applicants and wants to accept 15, then your chances are better and I know two people who were accepted with only tele experience. Answer 2: Lots of people have been accepted after getting their online BSN's. Also, lets be nice to the newbies. Sometimes they just don't see the sticky and are excited to ask questions or get a chance to talk.