zziak

Currently an LPN

One year left in Associates Degree Nursing school. Will graduate next May.

Then will be RN...
Then going for BS in Nursing.

turbo_dreams

Reading this helps while taking a cramming break from studying for my medical terminology final. Back at it I goooooooooooooo.

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Kouki's & some apple juice.

zneubauer

nice, good luck with everything!!!!!

zneubauer

http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php...type=1&theater


for those of you on Facebook, check this out.

Rut Ro

Currently an ICU RN here in Denver. On the wait list for CRNA school. Another two years after that and Ill be able to go to rural areas and make north of six digits hopefully. Its mainly for the people though.

zziak

I have a close relative who is currently a CRNA working in North Carolina. I asked her if she wouldn't mind telling me about how much she made her first year as a CRNA, and she stopped me when I hit 160k.

Could you send me a PM Rut Ro, I'd like to discuss what you did after ADN to get into the ICU and transition from 'just fresh out of school nurse' to seasoned RN awaiting acceptance into CRNA school.

My cousin tells me CRNA school is the worst 2 years you will ever spend, and prepare to live off roman noodles and toilet water for food because you will be dirt poor.

What I would like to achieve out of ADN school is to become a flight nurse out of Tupelo, MS here in my hometown, and then work on mt BSN and hopefully transition to CRNA school, but just like transitioning from fresh out of school to ICU nurse, I'm not sure how to go about doing that. I'd also like to spend some time on the heart team, EP lab, pacemaker implants, cath lab, ablation and cardioversions. I spent some time in clinicals doing that, and I really enjoyed anything related to the heart, something I didn't get to see in LPN school despite the extensive heart study we did. The heart floor is far from completing the requirements needed to get into CRNA school though, so I'm not sure if that is a goal I'll see soon.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

EnemyS15

Requisites for CRNA will be changed by 2015. Those who do not have a masters by then and aren't accepted into the program will then need a doctorates to get into the program.
You will then sign an affidavit stating you will not be working during your 2 years in CRNA school. It's nuts!

zneubauer

ICU RNs are from my understanding pretty much doctors without the title, correct me if I'm wrong but they have to have a lot of extra training, and they don't let just any RN work there, its like theyre elite RNs.

zneubauer

wtf that sucks! but then again they will all have a higher lever of training and hopefully a better standard of care, not that theres anything wrong with the currect ICU standards.

EnemyS15

I really think they will reform the requisites once they see a decline in applicants. You need a doctorates to get into CRNA school??? Why get a doctorates to then downgrade to CRNA? Just go be a doctor and make more than a CRNA.

TheWolf

whoever told you this knows nothing. This is the most dangerous information. The worst thing you could ever do is try to expand your role outside the scope of your practice. As an ICU nurse, you implement treatments, monitor and report. You have a working relationship with a doc and you are a patient advocate but the doctor will determine the course of treatment. At no point will you order so much as oxygen without a doctor following up behind you with his signature. Sure you can administer it in your judgement but a doc's still got to sign off on it. Doc's sign off on everything from getting out of bed, to what they eat. Once you make it though your RN school, you'll come to understand the complex responsibilities doctors carry and why they go through so much schooling. Now a ARNP has some decision making capability but not a RN. Not your scope, not your job to do so. ICU has certs as well, usually requires 1-2 years of ICU work.

By flight nursing I'm going to assume you mean rotor wing "life flight". Rotor wing flight nursing consists of two things. An RN degree, and you in a flight suit geared up weighing less than 200lbs (some twin engine models will bump this to 225lb). A paramedics cert is not frowned upon either. The pay is crap compared to other nursing. (I know 4 year flight nurses making less than new grad money) There are plenty of applicants. Many hospitals sub out their flight nurses to a contracting company. If you have any misconceptions that it's like Rescue Ranger shit where you jump out of a helicopter and into action where you'll be pulling people out of cars and saving them, no. You'll be handed a patient on a backboard from fire/rescue. You assess, stabilize, and keep them going till someone with more experience than you can look at them. You'll do this on a rattle trap helicopter. (think S13 with no interior driving down a gravel road on megan track coil overs) There's very little room to work on the patient so it's cramped to say the least but you get to be a "hero".

Now there's the other kind of rotor wing nursing. That is in the military. As they like to say in the advertisements, our helicopters don't have weight limits. If you're over 225lbs. This is your only way. Get your 4 year degree, enter the military as an officer. Drag shot soldiers onto blackhawks. In reality, you'll be dealing with racks of injured soldiers on a big globe master flying from kandahar to germany. 20 hoursish flight/shift. Which that brings us to the next step.

Fixed wing nursing. Meaning patients transported by plane. I highly recommend you read, "Flight Nursing: Principles and Practice" if you want to understand some of the challenges faced in pressurized and non pressurized cabins and the situations you'll be faced with when a doctor may not be present and the plane being at 20k feet up limits your options. You're trained and given a little more leeway in your scope in this situation. There are certs for it as well.

CRNA school is not something to be taken lightly. It is a very specialized field. While your friend maybe making 160k, did you bother to ask how much of that will be eaten by malpractice insurance? and Personal liability? The average is around 110k.

CRNA school in florida ranges from 45-80k. It's a limited acceptance program and they would really prefer you to have all 45-80k saved in advance. They will want to see a financial plan that doesn't involve "If the bank loans me money" or "if I sell my car". There's a high washout rate from people who just don't have the jack and have kids midway though, have stuff come up. Clean your calendar off for two years if you intend on taking it.

I've heard ARNP's going from masters to doctorate but as to requiring a doctorate to get into CRNA school, that is incorrect. CRNA's currently need only a bachelors degree to apply.

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zneubauer

they might have a certain contract with schools so people pay more to get a Dr.s and they don't end up using it, thus giving more money to the school and having less doctors to pay at a doctors rate.

tqstarburst

I was doing physical therapy, then i switched to speech language pathology and now to psychology. Can't seem to make my mind. I'm also cpr certified, and hopefully within this year or the next i want to go for emt training.

I know it's not related to my field, but it's always useful to be more well rounded.

Btw, i work for a bank right now (wells fargo) lol.

zneubauer

Lol, I'm guessing you got those as quotes because I do not recall saying that, I probably quoted them in response though but thanks for the lengthy replies, lots of info and I'm just going for my Fire/Medic, nothing more nothing less, and probably law enforcement after I secure a job so that I can move up to swat medic. idk, I haven't really decided on the swat thing yet.

zneubauer

I never meant that they take over the responsibilities of the doctor or even work outside their scope, all I was saying is that they have a lot of extra training from what our ICU nurse told us and they either stay at ICU or are trying to be docs someday. operating outside of your scope of practice is a liability and is also illegal, I would never suggest someone do so.

EnemyS15

Wolf, the info comes from my girlfriend who teaches nursing and is an arnp. You are right about currently needing a bachelors to get in, but in 2015 you will need your masters to enter the program, hence becoming a doctorate program. which goes back to my original Itatement. If you are going into a doctorates program, why not just go into med school, complete around the same time, and make more money than a CRNA?


I reread my op and saw what i wrote. I'll have to go back and correct it. Ty wolf.

TheWolf

The reason for it is because people become invested in a field. Nurses are nurses, docs are docs. If you've got a 4 year RN degree then you're not going to go back and take 8 years of classes plus residency. That's a long path compared to 2 years of online classes and then 2 years of CRNA school. There are several programs in our state that allow you to go from 2 year RN to MSN in 3 years. So does it matter? masters for CRNA? meh if you want it, you'll take it. If you don't, then you won't. This is like the same argument against certified first assist nurses in the OR. They aren't surgeons but certainly get paid well.

I think the only argument that makes sense is if you're a 2 year RN, to go back and complete PA school. It's about the same time wise as ARNP but you'd learn the different approaches of nursing to care vs doctors thus allowing you to understand the staff around you and increase your teamwork ability.

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