Raleigh School

focker14 · Aug 26, 2012

I'm a senior student at RSNA. For starters, what you heard is BS. It is a good school and I am proud to say that I will be graudating from there in 356 days...You have to remember, not everyone is meant or can do anesthesia. Many times people blame the school, faculty, CRNA's or MDA's for less than stellar performance when in reality it all comes down to the indiviual whom is to blame. The thought of being a CRNA is way more glamours than actually going through the program. Do MDA's/CRNA's talk amongst one another about students? Yes, does that happen at other programs...your damn right it does! CRNA school is, in all honesty, what you make of it. Will you have bad days? MANY, and if you don't then most likely your perception of your performance is somewhat skewed.

I DO NOT feel like everyday i go into clinical "is this the day I'm getting kicked out". In the past 3 years there have been students that have dropped out HOWEVER to my knowledge NOT ONE STUDENT has been "kicked out"....I would argue that not one of my classmates feels that way.

Is school hard? Yes. Are there better programs out there? Yes. At the end, do we all take the same exam to become certified? YES.....Will you get a job based upon where you went to school? I would most likely say NO....a CRNA is a CRNA....Will an employer take a DNAP over MSN prepared? Maybe/Maybe not...proabably depends on the interview....

If you have been accepted to Duke then by all means go for it. If you apply to RSNA and get in then make the best decision for you and your family (should you have one).

Word of advice, do not listen to anyone who talks about a programs that 1) is not in the program, 2) has not been through the program......

Hope this helps. Congrats on getting into Duke. It is a good program as well.

acorn82 · Aug 26, 2012

I'm a senior student at RSNA. .

Thank you for your reply! I really appreciate you taking the time to respond and be candid. I have a few more questions for you if you're up for it. I would PM you but it isn't activated on my account yet.

I saw online that the exam pass rate is about 77%... Do you know if there have been measures taken to improve this rate in the future? Do you feel well prepared to take and pass the exam?

How is the schedule at the Raleigh school? Do you have any time off at all between semesters? Christmas off? Etc?

focker14 · Aug 27, 2012

Not a problem....Yes the previous years exam pass rate was 77% and I think that was the lowest ever for the school. I believe the council for accredidation (sp) just now started mandating that programs post their pass rate, so make sure you look around. As far as measures to combat that, yes, they have implemented some. We now take a prep course the first summer as well as another in the second summer. We now have 1 day/week manadatory study hall during the summer for seniors. As far as feeling prepared to take the exam? RSNA is a two year intergrated program so we do not learn everything our first year. As such, to honestly answer your question NO. There are some topics that we have been lightly exposed to yet have not gone into great depth yet and we will do so in the upcoming months/ spring semester. They also encourage you to buy a computer program to assist in studying for your boards. I have taken the practice exam many times and usually end up with above an 85%, so I am somewhat pleased with where I am at this point.

As far as time off, not really. We are, I think, one of the few 2 year programs left and that is one of the reasons why I chose RSNA. That being said the "time-off" you would normally get at other schools is spent doing clinical rotations. I mean, we do get about 4 or 5 days off for christmas holidays. We get the acutal holiday's off such as Thanksgiving day, Easter day, New Years Eve/day, etc....

Clinicals start usually the first week of november. Do you feel prepared to start? Some do, some don't. I didn't but it wasn't because of lack of effort on the faculty part. Mine more or less had to deal with the fact that anesthesia is 100% foreign from what we did as ICU nurses. I would bet that many people don't feel 100% prepared and if they said they were then....again...they are most likely disillusioned....

Raleigh, like Duke, utilizes various clinical sites for your rotations. Some programs only go to two or three different hospitals whereas at RSNA (not 100% sure about Duke) you will rotate through 7-8 hospitals. It is great experience as you get to see how anesthesia is provided at different insitutions. You will soon learn that anesthesia can be administered 100 different ways to get the same goal accomplished. Does this help you pass boards? Proabably not, it may, dunno yet. However, I know it affords me the ability to become a better anesthesia provider as I learn different techniques from each clinical site. It is all about your "bag of tricks".....the more you can put away, the better you will be prepared!

Don't get me wrong, of course there are things I would like to see implemented and changed within our program. You will hear from numerous CRNA's about how their own programs were ran. Yes, some of them seemed very appealing while others.....well let's just say I'm glad I didn't go there!

The fact of the matter is, again, CRNA school is what you make of it. A graduate from Harvard must pass the same exam as a graduate from ECU, DUKE, Miami, etc.....Some prepare you better than others but when it all comes down to it, you are responsible for studying the material for your boards. Also, keep in mind the pass rate %'s do not let you know how many people took the exam! Yes 77% sucks no matter how you put it. But some schools have over 40 graduates taking the exam whereas others only have 7-12. That can go both ways....

Duke is a great program. However, I feel mine is as well. Would I have gone to Duke had I been accepted? Sure, if it was the only school that i was accepted to. I love the fact that I am done in 24 months compared to 28 months or even 32-36 months...also the expense was way outta my range to afford. Again, if Duke was the only school you got accepted to then by ALL MEANS GO!!!! If not then you have options....

cheers

pamchris · Oct 16, 2012

quick question, with fees isnt RSNA more like $42K for the whole program? And not the $20K the original poster was quoting?

Thanks,

Chris

focker14 · Oct 16, 2012

Chris,

I heard that RSNA is going to $10,000 per year. That doesn't include UNCG fees, however I don't believe that it is close to $42 G. Thinking its about $9000-11,000 for UNCG for both years so that would put the cost around $29-31,000 total for two years..

The thing is though that you can take out student loans for the UNCG tuition/fees however that does not cover the $10,000 per year owed to RSNA. It is like a buisness school if you will. Goverment loans will not cover that cost as it goes to a "for-profit" organization. What some of my classmates do though is utilize the "refund" you get from your UNCG loans to help cover the amount owed to RSNA. Again, even the refund won't cover all the amount owed however it seems like you get around $4-5000 back each year.

Hope this helps

pamchris · Oct 17, 2012

thanks for the info. I put an email into RSNA and ill keep you posted on the exact numbers. I got the $42K from this link - http://www.all-crna-schools.com/raleigh-school-of-nurse-anesthesia.html

Thanks,

Chris

pamchris · Oct 17, 2012

Thanks for the info! You were right on. Marcia from RSNA emailed me back and the total in state (with fees) for the whole program is $31,500... not a bad deal!

And the total out of state is $58,495. She updated the page on RSNA website to now correctly reflect this change. - Student Fees

Btw, do you know how RSNA looks at ICU experience vs. grades. My fiancee is getting her BSN this December. We are both chiropractors so we are bit older and she would like to start the CRNA route as soon as possible. If she gets an ICU job where we are right out of school (which will be very difficult), she will have well under 2 years experience when she can first apply. Her stats.

BSN gpa - 4.0

Chiropractic Doctorate Program GPA - 3.95 (Valedictorian)

GRE - yet to take, but probably will be high

The downside is the hospital near us is not a level I trauma center and not a really big hospital. Is it worth selling our chiro practice and moving to an area with a larger hospital or is a 10 bed ICU experience in a level 2 hospital good enough?

Thanks,

Chris

focker14 · Oct 19, 2012

Thanks for the info! You were right on. Marcia from RSNA emailed me back and the total in state (with fees) for the whole program is $31,500... not a bad deal!
And the total out of state is $58,495. She updated the page on RSNA website to now correctly reflect this change. - Student Fees
Btw, do you know how RSNA looks at ICU experience vs. grades. My fiancee is getting her BSN this December. We are both chiropractors so we are bit older and she would like to start the CRNA route as soon as possible. If she gets an ICU job where we are right out of school (which will be very difficult), she will have well under 2 years experience when she can first apply. Her stats.
BSN gpa - 4.0
Chiropractic Doctorate Program GPA - 3.95 (Valedictorian)
GRE - yet to take, but probably will be high
The downside is the hospital near us is not a level I trauma center and not a really big hospital. Is it worth selling our chiro practice and moving to an area with a larger hospital or is a 10 bed ICU experience in a level 2 hospital good enough?
Thanks,
Chris

Hey Chris,

Well for starters, most programs look at grades and GRE scores. It appears as if your wife would have no problem on that end. RSNA, I would say looks at those more highly than someone with years of ICU experience. As far as age, Im 35 and graduating in August. There are about 4 or 5 classmates that are older than I. It's a good mix. As far as ICU experience as long as she gets the basics down she'll be fine anywhere she goes. ICU is ICU. There are some students in my class who never worked with SWANZ catheters (bascially a catheter inserted into the heart for monitoring) however they are doing just fine in clinical and in class. Level 2 is just fine as long as she gets to know the basics.

HAHA....one thing that will be funny is to see how she feels about spinals/and epidurals.....I have a great UC-CH that swears he would NEVER NEVER let a drug enter his spinal column..she is entering a realm that more or less (at least I think, correct me if I'm wrong) goes against her training as a CH...

At any rate if you have any other questions, please feel free to ask me. my email is [email protected]

focker14 · Oct 19, 2012

also, they hire new grads into ICU's here in Raleigh. there is 6 area hospitals...my wife works in a MSCIU at one of them and precepts new grads all the time...

scgamecock · Oct 26, 2013

Hey can anybody on this thread tell me how the Raleigh school clinical experience is/was?

EtherFever · Feb 7, 2014

While I am an SRNA, I am not in the Raleigh program... I go to a neighboring school. But many of my friends/former co-workers are in the Raleigh program and they love it. However, they have told me it is a pretty steep learning curve in the beginning, due to it being a "truly integrated" program. They were in clinical within the first or second month of starting school, while my program wasn't in clinical until 2nd semester.

We all talk about school with each other and from what I understand, the first few months were rough in the OR for them because some of the didactic hadn't been presented to them yet. On the flip side, I got some didactic that didn't quite make sense until I got into the OR.

They get some good experience with interesting cases (neuro, cardiac etc.,) however was told that regional/neuraxial experience was difficult to come by. I do know that they have produced some great CRNA's, as I've been precepted by a few former Raleigh grads. Hope that info helps a bit!