Anesthesia school is not easy… live with it. I am currently in Anesthesia school at UC, and our motto is “embrace the suck” and on a lighter note “CRN-B”. Remember that anything worth having is hard to obtain, otherwise everyone would do it. Our current program is a master program that will be switching to a DNAP soon after I graduate, I personally plan on getting my DNAP sometime within 5 years after I graduate. The main reason for this is not to call myself “Dr. Something”, it’s to continue my knowledge base and to help my career and profession along.
The changes in the healthcare system mean that we need to be prepared and adaptable for whatever comes. If the government wants to tie reimbursement to the level of our degrees, then that is what we have to give them in order to keep our practice current and relevant. If you aren’t ready to give up every aspect of your current life in order to call yourself a CRNA, please I beg you, don’t apply.
We don’t need or want rigid and inflexible people to work beside us. I am not academically inclined, you can probably tell from my current writing in this post, but I devoted my time, effort, money, and life into this pursuit. The rewards are great when you finish but the road is long and hard.
I am not at the top of my class and that’s fine by
me. I know myself and abilities; I work around my deficiencies and do the best I can with what I have. If you aren’t ready to be kicked in the stomach and stand right back up and keep going, then don’t step up at all. Remember you will be going from the TOP of your ICU unit to the bottom of the OR world.
And don’t kid yourself, the OR world is very different and strange if you haven’t spent time in one. So be ready to swallow your pride, get corrected constantly, and be shown a skill 100 different ways that don’t make sense. It will seem like you just came out of undergrad all over again. It seems like you forget everything you have learned in the past 2 years.
I say all this to anyone that wants to apply to CRNA School, think long and hard about yourself and your situation. Be ready to give it all up for two years. The hard work pays off and you learn so much in the first year of school. But please don’t whine about a little more school for your DNAP.
Most DNAP programs seem like it’s another 6-8 months more than your MSN, that’s nothing in the grand scheme of things. Please don’t reply with stuff about family time with kids and having a life outside of school and your financial situation. You know the deal before you start.
Suck it up buttercup.