Swan Lines

I am in the same boat as you and have the same question. I have been working as a nurse for 6 years with 2 and half in ICU but I am scared to apply to school for the sole fact that I don't deal with swans that much. My hospital just started open hearts last month so that will change shortly. I am comfortable with my GPA , GRE and everything else except swans and of course my goals statement.

Good luck

crystal

wouldn't worry about it you will get the training/exposure in CRNA school especially on your heart rotation.

Do you think that admissions committees will eliminate me

I would not think so. Turn your 'anxiety' into 'excitement'.

Louise

Swans are not used that much any more. Yes Cvt Surgery but it is been proven that many other uses for swans do not actually improve Mortalities in patients that they are placed in.

I personally have cared for about 5 in 8 years of MICU experience. I'll start at TCU in August. I interviewed at several schools. The admissions committees will ask you, so just be honest that you have limited experiences with them. Most won't hold it against you.

The oddest response was from a student assisting with interviews at one school, whose exp was CVICU/Transplant. He was shocked that we did not do more invasive monitoring with swans. He asked me how we knew what was going on with patients that were crashing or critically ill? My answer was we did use ARTs, CVPs, and oh yea! We use patient ASSESSMENT (in front of the program director). They must have liked my answer because I was accepted to their program, however I am not going there for feasability reasons.

So take what you have and be confident in yourself. If you are thinking that unlimited Swan experience makes a good CRNA, go find something else to do like becoming a perfusionist (not to knock on there job or anything).

Swans are not used that much any more. Yes Cvt Surgery but it is been proven that many other uses for swans do not actually improve Mortalities in patients that they are placed in.

I personally have cared for about 5 in 8 years of MICU experience. I'll start at TCU in August. I interviewed at several schools. The admissions committees will ask you, so just be honest that you have limited experiences with them. Most won't hold it against you.

The oddest response was from a student assisting with interviews at one school, whose exp was CVICU/Transplant. He was shocked that we did not do more invasive monitoring with swans. He asked me how we knew what was going on with patients that were crashing or critically ill? My answer was we did use ARTs, CVPs, and oh yea! We use patient ASSESSMENT (in front of the program director). They must have liked my answer because I was accepted to their program, however I am not going there for feasability reasons.

So take what you have and be confident in yourself. If you are thinking that unlimited Swan experience makes a good CRNA, go find something else to do like becoming a perfusionist (not to knock on there job or anything).

Swan's are indeed a rapidly disappearing phenomenon, although you will probably still see them occasionally for very specific indications. They used to be SOP for any open heart procedure, but now so many procedures are being done off-pump you just don't see them like you used do. And perfusionist? There's a career field with a short-term future.

Having a STUDENT rag on an applicant? Gimme a break. Yet another example of the old cliche' about nurses eating their young.

One of our anesthesiologist remarked that Swans in units nowadays are simply utilized just so an MD doesn't have to show up in the middle of the night to make a medical assessment treatment / decision. Read the numbers, treat the numbers until the morning.

Having a STUDENT rag on an applicant? Gimme a break. Yet another example of the old cliche' about nurses eating their young.

I don't think he was attempting to rag on me. I just found it amusing that he felt he could not function without all the invasive technologies available with critically ill patients. According to his background. I think he was actually younger than me anyhow.

You can tell a whole lot about a patient from just the basic V/S, cvp, foley bag and a good assessment.

When I transitioned from the ED to our general ICU, one of the nurses (32+ years in ICU) told of me the best way to monitor your unstable pt. is "No BP, no PeePee". I very quickly learned how right she was

hey

Dont worry about swans at all. When i first started just about every ICU patient had one. Over the years research has shown they have contributed more to mortality than to diagnostics. I might see one every year now, its rare even in the CV when im there. You can tell as much from basic I/O (if monitored correctly) as you can from swans in most patients. This is even standard practice in the Burn center.

Secondly, swans arent hard to learn. You will be fine

Yep you will be fine. I worked MICU as well and got asked a few Swan questions at my interview. Just make sure you know what the normal numbers should be for the interview. Also have an idea of what drugs would increase cardiac output, SVR, etc. I am currently doing my heart rotation at a community hospital and we put Swans in every CABG patient but I know they don't do this at many big university "heart factories".

I work in a MICU/CCU in Pennsylvania that still uses a lot of Swans/ CCO Swans. However, it does seem definitely that the trend is to move away from them. Nurses shouldn't hesitate to apply to CRNA school due to limited exposure.