Questions about academic upgrading... please help.

[Monkeyman]

Hi everyone,

I apologize in advance for the length of this post! I've been looking at advanced practice opportunities in nursing and the more I look into the CRNA career stream the more it appeals to me!

Any suggestions that anyone can provide are greatly appreciated.

Here's my situation:

I'm a 27 year old Canadian RN who recently started working in general systems ICU at a large level 1 trauma centre. I am a fresh graduate (graduated in Aug. 2008). I enjoy working in the ICU, and love how much there is to learn. We don't have CRNAs in Canada, and therefore I would have to move to the US to pursue this career stream. I hear you guys have nicer weather down there too!

Education wise I have a B.Sc. in molecular microbiology (this was my first degree) and then I did an accelerated track B.ScN. I had around a 3.0-3.5 in my initial degree. Unfortunately my GPA in my B.ScN took a hit as I got quite frustrated with my program. Overall I probably have around a 2.5-3.0 in my nursing courses.

I am kind of a molecular pharmacology nerd. I get excited about things like calcium sparks and inward rectifying potassium channels. I found the B.ScN program to be very fluffy, and it didn't seem to matter whether I studied or not; my grades would always be around the same range. I found it very hard to focus on fluffy nursing material and grew more and more frustrated with school. I only attended very few classes and didn't really study. I did, however, really like the practicums. This is what kept me in the program.

My questions pertain to academic upgrading.

1) I know some schools will consider applicants who improve their GPA by doing additional course work. Would it make a difference if academic upgrading course was done in Canada vs. in the US?

2) Also, I've heard that some admission committees like to see graduate level science courses. I have taken a few of these w/ grades A, A- range. Would it improve my chances if I were to get an masters in a scientific field?

3) How much weight does a good GRE score have on a applications? I know this varies from school to school, but would a high GRE score somewhat make up for my academic shortcomings?

4) How is research experience viewed by the admissions committees? Would practical research courses/publications help my chances of being accepted?

5) Is more ICU experience considered more desirable? I would like to have 3-5 years of ICU training before applying to CRNA programs.

Thanks again for reading through my long post. Any help is greatly appreciated.

[loveanesthesia]

Actually Canada is in the first stages of starting to train some advanced practice nurses in anesthesia. I beleive it is at only 1 institution now with only a few students. I know about 4 years ago I spoke to a Canadian nurse at the AANA Annual meeting. She was attending to get information about CRNAs and told me they were looking into it. I've tried to keep up with it, and in the last few months heard that they started training. Look into it and you could be part of building the profession. How exciting!

[loveanesthesia]

role of nurses being redefined

canada.com (05/20/09) sankey, derek

nurse shortages across canada have changed the roles of many healthcare workers, with many registered nurses taking on more responsibilities to combat the shortage of both nurses and physicians. the canadian nurses association has projected a shortfall of 22,000 rns by 2022 if nothing is done to address the issue. in 2007, the college of nurses of ontario received authority to regulate three new nurse practitioner specialties: nurse practitioners with pediatric specialty, adult nurse practitioners in acute care, and nurse practitioners in anesthesia. ontario's government has also established four nurse practitioner-led health clinics in northern ontario.