Was CRNA worth it all?

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CRNAs: those of you who made it through the grueling process of becoming a CRNA, do you feel it was worth it? I’m asking in terms of quality of life, finance, respect. I am currently 25 y/o working in an MICU at level 1 trauma center downtown Chicago. Seriously considering applying to CRNA schools in Illinois within the next 1-2 years. Thank you in advance for feedback.

On 5/11/2019 at 11:57 AM, BigPappaCRNA said:

This might sound strange, but if you love taking care of challenging patients, and you thrive on that, CRNA might not be all that attractive to you. Most of what we do, when done right, is very routine and mundane. Elective surgeries are mostly, mostly boring. Of course there are the moments of excitement, the ruptured AAA, the head bleed, the crash section, etc, but most people don't do those most of the time, even in the most acute of centers. If I were you, I would shadow a CRNA for several days to get a true sense of the job.

Good Luck.

So then, my question to you would be, how does a CRNA stay up to date on the additional skillset required on those crashing patients, if they are so infrequent? I am not doubting a CRNA's competencies, but rather curious about how they keep such information and skills current. Maybe it's just knowledge that sticks with you always once you've done it.

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On 5/12/2019 at 9:19 PM, ICUman said:

So then, my question to you would be, how does a CRNA stay up to date on the additional skillset required on those crashing patients, if they are so infrequent? I am not doubting a CRNA's competencies, but rather curious about how they keep such information and skills current. Maybe it's just knowledge that sticks with you always once you've done it.

We stay current and read our journals, we get assigned to various rooms so that you do everything every so often, we take CEUs, many of us go through crisis training in simulators similar to commercial pilot training, we practice, etc. And...we all should ALL have a 3-4 year background in acute critical care that is the base for all we do, and is one of the reasons I urge every potential student not to try to get into school after just one year.

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Ok. Here goes... the possibilities as a regular ole RN seemed limitless. I could do many things in different environments. I had ok money but life seemed simpler. As a CRNA, I can only do anesthesia. It’s pretty much the same wherever I go. Very unlikely to became a chief nurse anesthetist because there are so few jobs. One day when I finish my doctorate, maybe I’ll go into academia. Unlikely to go into anything else because, let’s face it, I make to much money. The CRNA job is ok. It’s boring most of the time to me. Very political in most places. Would I do it all over again if I had too? Nope. I’d just go to medical school or avoid healthcare completely.

I may be jaded because of my job. Been out almost 5 years and at the same place. I do work locums so I see what other places are like. It can be a great JOB/Career.

GREAT $$$. I’m in so much debt now because of student loans and etc, I’ll stick with it. 10 months and I’ll likely do full-time locums. Hopefully that’ll change my perspective a bit.

I do not encourage anyone to become an RN, much less an APRN, but I would support their decision to do so without any hesitation or mental reservation.

DONT CHASE THE $$$. Life can be miserable in a job you hate to go to even if it pays well. That’s how a lot of folks get caught up in addictive behaviors. Trying to escape the routine misery of life.

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7 minutes ago, Juanito said:

Ok. Here goes... the possibilities as a regular ole RN seemed limitless. I could do many things in different environments. I had ok money but life seemed simpler. As a CRNA, I can only do anesthesia. It’s pretty much the same wherever I go. Very unlikely to became a chief nurse anesthetist because there are so few jobs. One day when I finish my doctorate, maybe I’ll go into academia. Unlikely to go into anything else because, let’s face it, I make to much money. The CRNA job is ok. It’s boring most of the time to me. Very political in most places. Would I do it all over again if I had too? Nope. I’d just go to medical school or avoid healthcare completely.

I may be jaded because of my job. Been out almost 5 years and at the same place. I do work locums so I see what other places are like. It can be a great JOB/Career.

GREAT $$$. I’m in so much debt now because of student loans and etc, I’ll stick with it. 10 months and I’ll likely do full-time locums. Hopefully that’ll change my perspective a bit.

I do not encourage anyone to become an RN, much less an APRN, but I would support their decision to do so without any hesitation or mental reservation.

DONT CHASE THE $$$. Life can be miserable in a job you hate to go to even if it pays well. That’s how a lot of folks get caught up in addictive behaviors. Trying to escape the routine misery of life.

I'm not sure what part of the country you're working in or the types of practices but this is opposite to the experience I've had so far. A year before graduation we had groups coming to campus, buying us meals, giving us gifts, paying for flights and hotels to interview at their practice, offering sign-on bonuses, incentive benefits packages, etc.

One of the groups I interviewed with offered a partnership track, another mentioned that they would be soon looking for leadership CRNAs during my interview.

All the positions offered salaries between $200-$300K annually. This includes call of course, which is the nature of anesthesia. I settled on a location I liked very much in California.

As for politics, you're very right that is a very political specialty. That's been going on for a century and will not change very soon. Our first semester of school we had an entire course designed to educate us on the history of nurse anesthesia, the competitors in the market, and the politics. By the time you reach the third year of the program and you're ready to interview for jobs you should be able to sniff out a politically toxic practice from a mile away. My method was always asking if CRNAs did their own blocks, lines, PACU management orders, preops, etc. If there was any hint of a no in that list I thanked them for their time and moved on. Also, any use of professional slurs like midlevel, I'm out.

As for being bored with anesthesia, I can't speak too much to that because I've only been doing it a couple of years. For those anesthesia providers with more experience, I've been told that mixing things up makes it less boring. Work some OB call into your life, introduce some healthy peds back into practice, try learning more complex or new PNBs, look into some ERAS protocols and see if your facilities keeping up with the newest research, try your hand at opioid-free anesthesia, investigate outpatient ketamine clinics, do 1099 at an endo center, see if you like doing sedation for dental clinics.

I may one day go be a professor, which is one of the benefits of the DNP. So continue your education and it will increase your flexibility with academia and non-clinical roles. Get active with the AANA, attend national meetings, join a committee. All of these things will help spice up the day to day mundane that seems to be bringing you down.

As for if you should have gone a different path, that is very dependent on each person. Although, I would never advise someone to go to med school unless they were wanting to do a surgical specialty. I can't even count how many residents/physicians I've heard say they wish they had done business or CRNA instead. The grass is always greener on the other side, except it never truly is.

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2 hours ago, Bluebolt said:

I'm not sure what part of the country you're working in or the types of practices but this is opposite to the experience I've had so far. A year before graduation we had groups coming to campus, buying us meals, giving us gifts, paying for flights and hotels to interview at their practice, offering sign-on bonuses, incentive benefits packages, etc.

One of the groups I interviewed with offered a partnership track, another mentioned that they would be soon looking for leadership CRNAs during my interview.

All the positions offered salaries between $200-$300K annually. This includes call of course, which is the nature of anesthesia. I settled on a location I liked very much in California.

As for politics, you're very right that is a very political specialty. That's been going on for a century and will not change very soon. Our first semester of school we had an entire course designed to educate us on the history of nurse anesthesia, the competitors in the market, and the politics. By the time you reach the third year of the program and you're ready to interview for jobs you should be able to sniff out a politically toxic practice from a mile away. My method was always asking if CRNAs did their own blocks, lines, PACU management orders, preops, etc. If there was any hint of a no in that list I thanked them for their time and moved on. Also, any use of professional slurs like midlevel, I'm out.

As for being bored with anesthesia, I can't speak too much to that because I've only been doing it a couple of years. For those anesthesia providers with more experience, I've been told that mixing things up makes it less boring. Work some OB call into your life, introduce some healthy peds back into practice, try learning more complex or new PNBs, look into some ERAS protocols and see if your facilities keeping up with the newest research, try your hand at opioid-free anesthesia, investigate outpatient ketamine clinics, do 1099 at an endo center, see if you like doing sedation for dental clinics.

I may one day go be a professor, which is one of the benefits of the DNP. So continue your education and it will increase your flexibility with academia and non-clinical roles. Get active with the AANA, attend national meetings, join a committee. All of these things will help spice up the day to day mundane that seems to be bringing you down.

As for if you should have gone a different path, that is very dependent on each person. Although, I would never advise someone to go to med school unless they were wanting to do a surgical specialty. I can't even count how many residents/physicians I've heard say they wish they had done business or CRNA instead. The grass is always greener on the other side, except it never truly is.

Glad to hear you’ve had a great experience! I can only speak to what I have experienced. Somehow folks often say medicine isn’t worth going into but they continue to pump out doctors. I hear the docs complaining, yet there are many many perks to being an MD. Maybe not like it used to be. It’s definitely not a shabby job. I’m in the NE part of the country. VERY politically active, more state than national

I already do 1099 quite a bit actually, but not enough. I’m hoping changing to full time locums will maybe spice things up a bit. GREAT $$, but I’m bored right now. I probably would have stopped and changed in the middle of the anesthesia program, but I wasn’t brave enough and in too much debt. My life outside of work is great, largely in part due to the wonderful $$ I make; however, that doesn’t change how I feel during those 40-60 hrs working every week.

Im not the only CRNA who feels this way. I’m just one of a few who admits it.

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Juanito thanks for sharing your experience. I've seen a handful of CRNA's on this site post similar feelings.

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Been at it over a decade now. Wish I went for straight NP. I'd have more flexibility in work environment. The work space in the ORs is unhealthy. The political animosity between CRNAs and MDAs is toxic. The surgeon sets the tone in the rigid OR hierarchy, but you'll get as much or as little respect as the MDA shows you. I might feel different in a CRNA only practice, but those are few and far between in the east. Only upside is the money and I'll be able to retire earlier, but I feel like I've sold my soul and my love of nursing.

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Specializes in ICU, transport, CRNA.
On ‎1‎/‎28‎/‎2019 at 11:55 PM, SacTownGirl said:

Hi guys I had a question Im currently working in the ICU, but I have MSN, masters entry program in nursing, did not have a bachelors in but Iam a registered nurse.

Im planning for the future and would like to apply to a CRNA program, but Ive noticed all the requirements say BSN.

Can I still apply?

Yes! I don't have a bachelors degree of any kind. I have an associates in nursing, then did RN to MSN at University of Arizona that did not include earning a BSN along the way. I was accepted to all four of the CRNA programs I applied to. FWIW I have lots of CNRA friends who have associates in nursing and bachelors degrees in other fields ranging from Music education to forestry and had no problem getting accepted into NA programs.

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Specializes in ICU, transport, CRNA.

I love my job and am super glad I did it. I'm 1/3 owner of an all CRNA practice group. We don't have OR politics. The two general surgeons who I work with regularly are good friends of mine, the rotating specialty surgeons never mess with us. I do two week rotations of bread and butter cases and it gets kinda boring, but I'm off by 3PM, no nights, no weekends or holidays. Then I do a two week rotation of being on call 24/7, but no scheduled cases. I only average 21 hours of work/week when on call, but it's a lot of fun. I get to go to a lot of trauma cases, emergent OB and C-sections & do critical care (usually writing vent orders for the IM and family practice docs) and pain management consulting. Then I'm off for two weeks and the rotation repeats. I live in northern Wisconsin near a gorgeous & friendly lake town, have a house on the lake, 80 acres of hunting land. It's an outdoor recreation lovers dream.

Our practice has one absurdly well compensated part time employee, a single mom who does our billing and record keeping from a lap top in her kitchen. I'm VERY well compensated.

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Specializes in ICU, transport, CRNA.
On ‎3‎/‎5‎/‎2019 at 7:34 AM, mattk853 said:

DreameRN,

I'm an accelerated BSN student right and now want to pursue CRNA. I'm curious to know, what were your stats like for CNA school? (GPA, experience, etc) and a little more personal, how are you managing the program in terms of living and finances. That's probably mine, and others, biggest concerns. Any insight is highly appreciated and congrats!

I had a 3.66 GPA from my associates in nursing program, 11 years of solid experience in high level ICU, rapid response and critical care transport, then a 3.4 GPA in my online RN to MSN program (I don't have a bachelors degree in anything).

I borrowed $80K to pay for family living expenses during the 27 months of my program. My wife worked full time and I worked every Saturday night at my old critical care transport job while in NA school.

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Absolutely, it was worth it!! The program/training itself absolutely sucked and if you are married your spouse needs to be 100% committed to the process as well. I have tons of autonomy where I'm at and I honestly enjoy it way more then I did working in the unit!

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