tnk11

I think they should. We respond to codes, Rapid Response Team's, Stroke Alerts, Trauma Alerts, etc in my hospital. Also there is no busier unit in the hospital than our ICU. We are required to do more education than everybody and we are required to hold more certifications than everybody and can take any type of patient. For these reasons I think we should.

I started out as a new grad in a 16 bed combined ICU. Patients ranged from Open Heart Surgery, to your typical sepsis MICU patients to some big belly surgeries to some neuro patients. It all depends on how self motivated you are to learn. Also, make sure you get an awesome preceptor. Mine was actually in ACNP school while he was orientating me and I learned more in that 6 months of orientation then I did in nursing school.

I passed a few months ago and I used Vonfrolio's CCRN review dvd's and the AACN's practice test book. I passed on the first attempt. That's what I would recommend to study.

Any advice for those of us that will be starting the program soon? Thanks.

Can you give any advice for those of us who will be starting the program soon? Thanks.

ergatorsnurse, I tried to add myself to the group but since I do not have a @ufl.edu email and I'm not a florida resident (I'm from out of state) it won't let me. It keeps saying it a 'closed group within florida.'

This is a very interesting thread and I'm interested to see how it goes. I started out as a NA worked my way up to an ADN RN and then a BSN. I had some issues finding a hospital that would hire me because I only had an associates degree. I personally only applied to DNP CRNA programs because I was afraid later on down the road they would only hire CRNA's with a DNP degree and not one with a MSN like they are doing now with the BSN and ADN nurses.

I think neuro ICU would be great experience. Sometimes they ask you about your financial plans during interviews for school and it's nice to say that you have all your debt paid off before starting CRNA school.

I went back and forth between ACNP and CRNA multiple times before ultimately deciding on applying to CRNA school and I'll be starting next year. My deciding factor was when I went and shadowed a CRNA at a local hospital (we don't employe them at our hospital). I like the idea of still being at the beside and performing lots of procedures and giving medications instead of ordering them, just my preference. However, I give full credit to the NP's out there, the ACNP's I work with are absolutely awesome and I would not have the knowledge I have now if it wasn't for them.

I think you'll be fine and I agree, your numbers do look good. My GPA was 3.5 and my GRE was 290 (honestly I thought it was a really hard test). Had my CCRN, PALS, ACLS, BLS and approximately 2 years as a floating ICU nurse between our MICU and SICU (which includes open heart recovery) in my hospital. I served on multiple committees, was a preceptor, filled in as charge and had great references. I wasn't even interviewed at one school because of my GRE but ended up being accepted to my first choice school. The point i'm trying to make is every school looks and places emphases on different things. i.e. one school might want a really high GRE while the other school may want 5 plus years of experience. But your stats look good I think you will be fine. Best of luck!

Sounds like good stats to me. The only other thing I would recommend is getting involved in committees at your hospital, for example I'm on a medication safety committee that looks at all medication errors in the hospital and looks at process changes to prevent further errors with high risk meds.

I also applied to RF, still waiting to hear from them. Do you know much about the school? I'm from out of state and don't know to much about it, just heard it's a good program.

jgonzalez0726 and RNnat I also interviewed April 8th and found out about 2 weeks later. Do you know of anyone else that got accepted? Wasn't sure if anyone else started a Facebook page yet or not. PaSSiNGaS, BSN, MSN, CRNA unfortunately i don't have the required number of posts to personal message you yet, hopefully I'll have enough soon and I will PM you. Thanks for the help.

RNnat- Same here! Do you know of anyone else that got accepted or how many students they have accepted yet? I looked but I couldn't find a Facebook page or anything yet for our class. Mainlzy- My interview was a few weeks ago and I got the email about 1-2 weeks after my interview, they let you know pretty fast. The interview is pretty laid back, they go over a slide show and they answer all questions you have. Next they start the interview, i met with 2 faculty members and they interviewed me for 45 min-1 hr. Most of the questions are situational/behavioral type questions and a few clinical questions. All in all it was a great experience and everyone was really nice.

Wanted to start a thread for everyone who is still applying or who got accepted already to the program and hopefully start some networking. If you happen to be a current or previous student of the program it would be awesome if you could share some tips or advice for us that will be entering the program. Also, any advice for people relocating to Miami from out of state would be helpful.