programs to stay away from?

Raincity,

I think the answer is very individualized. Each CRNA school offers different advantages and disadvantages, so you need to pick which things are most important to you. If you ask some of the senior students in my program who have complained about everything and created a lot of problems for the program, they would say stay away from the program. If you ask me or any of my classmates, we love the program and would recommend it to anyone. I had the choice of three schools and chose my program for specific reasons. It works great for my learning style and family situation but it may not be the best program for others.

What works for one person, doesn't for another.

Getting a bias view of the negative side of any program will not tell you the whole picture. It is all relative. Sorry if this is not the response you were looking for, but I thought I'd share my opinion.

Do you know which CRNA school is the best in the country.....the one that accepts you!

I wouldn't go to any nursing schools if I were you!

I didn't take zenman's response initially as an attack on nursing even though I'm sure it was. The good point brought up is don't go to schools that offer an MSN rather than MS because you will have about five extra classes in graduate nursing such as ethics and theory. It really sucks taking these classes when you feel you have more important things to study, and could essentially be taking more classes related to anesthesia.

Boy did you hit the nail on the head. It really is difficult to have these "fluff" classes going on when the renal section of Guyton (our medical physiology book), plus cadaver lab and patient simulators are kicking your rear end in the first semester. If you never care about a university appointment (faculty), then find a MS program that is project, not thesis, based and have at it.

Hindsight is 20/20 when looking back on this.

rn29306

Example: hmmmm, now which do I do better on, the renal test (da** that countercurrent mechanism) or do I write a better paper on my make-believe nursing clinic (based on a nursing theorist) in a far-away land?

I agree that many of the MSN programs have WAY too much fluff and nursing BS. Howver, not all schools are this way. I am in an MSN program and I only have 5 core nursing courses to do outside of my anesthesia classes, they are Patho, Pharm, researchx2 and health assessment. I have very little "Nursing Theory" classes for my masters...of course that was one of the deciding factors on which school to attend :) You need to look at the details of every program and decide what works for you.

FYI COA (Council on Accreditation) requires an ethics course in nurse anesthesia curricula. Nursing theory, however, (thankfully) is NOT required.

PG

i am taking the non-anesthesia portion now. it was recommended to me before i start the anesthesia portion of the program. i think it is a good decision. i wish i didn't have to take courses like ethics and health care law, but i figure just about every program has fluff courses. i don't think it's legitimate to exclude a program because of more fluff courses, especially considering how hard it is to get into crna school anyway. if you want to get into a crna school, it's ok to select the one you want to go, but you should be flexible to the school's requirements. i liked the school i chose, and it just happen that i had to take a 5 non anesthesia classes. i guess this is something i will live with if it gets me to crna

I don't consider physics, patho, pharm non-anesthesia courses because they are applied directly to anesthesia in my opinion. I do, however, consider Theoretical foundations in nsg theory, professional role development, research in advanced nsg practice, health policy and finance, graduate research project, and Diversity and social issues fluff classes. And if you don't think a theory course in which you are to abstract total BS from nowhere takes a lot of time think again. Not to mention the fact that instructors who teach graduate nursing theory are gungho about theory and like nothing more than to make it difficult for you. I don't think spending 10 or more hours a week on theory is acceptable. Our instructor, of course, doesn't care about anesthesia or our schedules and slashes our grades if we even discuss anything too empirical. There has got to be an easier way to learn theory because I personally don't plan on applying it to my anethesia practice. I know research is required, but does there really have to be two classes. I would rather be spending my time learning and doing difficult, diverse hard cases than learning about diversity and social issues. How many times do we have to beat a dead horse with diversity issues. Maybe a days worth of classes could do that, and not a semester. Sorry, had to vent. Some people just don't understand the amount of time and wasted brain energy goes to classes that really won't be applied in the future.

Based on the consensus here, would an MS or MA in Biology be a better choice for those that want to stay far far away from nursing theory if they can? Conneticut and Wisconsin both have programs where you finish with a master's in biology. Would a program that awards a degree in Anesthesia be far enough away from nursing theory?

I'll do what I have to do, just like everyone else here has or is, but having just a few courses left for my BSN i honestly have to say that I'm beginning to hate nursing theory. Have I learned new things? Yes. Are they applibable to my current practice? No. I've learned more on my own just from studying for my CCRN exam than I have with all of these classes combined.

D.C.

I don't consider physics, patho, pharm non-anesthesia courses because they are applied directly to anesthesia in my opinion. I do, however, consider Theoretical foundations in nsg theory, professional role development, research in advanced nsg practice, health policy and finance, graduate research project, and Diversity and social issues fluff classes. And if you don't think a theory course in which you are to abstract total BS from nowhere takes a lot of time think again. Not to mention the fact that instructors who teach graduate nursing theory are gungho about theory and like nothing more than to make it difficult for you. I don't think spending 10 or more hours a week on theory is acceptable. Our instructor, of course, doesn't care about anesthesia or our schedules and slashes our grades if we even discuss anything too empirical. There has got to be an easier way to learn theory because I personally don't plan on applying it to my anethesia practice. I know research is required, but does there really have to be two classes. I would rather be spending my time learning and doing difficult, diverse hard cases than learning about diversity and social issues. How many times do we have to beat a dead horse with diversity issues. Maybe a days worth of classes could do that, and not a semester. Sorry, had to vent. Some people just don't understand the amount of time and wasted brain energy goes to classes that really won't be applied in the future.

More elaborate than I.....can someone give me a ahem for this quote?