Best ICU Experience = CRNA School

Is there a specific ICU experience that will get you into a nurse anesthesia program?

In this blog post, I’m going to discuss the type of ICU experience that helped me get into nurse anesthesia school. These tips will guide you for the type of ICU experience that will help you get accepted into CRNA school.

So let’s get into it,  I am an experienced CRNA and I have been working for a few years.  I would recommend that it is important to have an ICU experience that is broad and in a teaching hospital. You might work in a small community hospital and that might be the only option you have access to, but if you can, it is preferred to be in a teaching or fast paced ICU setting. 

When I was an ICU nurse, I worked at NYU Langone medical center in New York City. It was a great teaching hospital to work at. In addition, it is a magnet hospital, which is known to satisfy a set of criteria designed to measure the strength and quality of nursing care.

I received some of the sickest patients in the city.  My ICU experience definitely guided me and allowed me to learn and gain high quality critical care knowledge and critical care thinking. When you are going into CRNA school, it is a totally different ballgame than going into nursing school.  However, becoming a ICU nurse allows you to have critical care thinking skills. An ICU nurse will learn how to titrating drips, critical care medicine, pathophysiology, co-morbidities, and more.

Get into The ICU of Your Interest

Consider working in the medical ICU, surgical ICU, cardiovascular ICU,  critical care ICU or trauma ICU. Those are great options to think about. Some people might recommend a special ICU setting.  However, the best ICU experience is how you make that ICU experience for you. 

Just remember, it all depends on how you interpret your ICU experience. Going into a busy hospital setting will allow you to learn a wide range of critical care knowledge. Teaching hospitals,  level 1 or level 2 trauma centers are great options. 

NYU Langone medical center allows graduate nurses the opportunity to be apart of a residency program. The nurse residency program allows a graduate RN a smooth transition to into the ICU setting. 

What is the CCRN Exam?

It is a critical-care certification for registered nurses. Consider obtaining your CCRN within your first year as a ICU nurse.

Be Involved in Extracurricular Activities

Think about being active in your hospital. Be involved with committees, writing hospital protocols, research or quality improvement measures. Additionally, become a charge nurse, a code team, or a champion. Volunteering to be a part of multiple aspects in your facility allows you to stand out as an ICU nurse. These tips will allow your application for a CRNA program stand out.

When I was an ICU nurse, I was a part of the resuscitation committee. I was a charged ICU nurse. I was involved in making hospital protocols as well as being a sepsis champion. I was a part of a substance abuse research project during my summer, which allowed me to fall in love with research.

Shadow A CRNA

Shadowing a CRNA is another great tip.

You need to see the clinical aspect of being a CRNA. You may have heard of it, you may have read about it, you may have heard “oh my gosh CRNAs make so much money”. You want to go into a practice that you like, it’s not about the money. At the end of the day, when you are a CRNA, you want to be happy and feel good about what you do. You don’t want to spend time and money going into a profession that you’re not a hundred percent happy with.

Consider shadowing a CRNA multiple of times. This will allow you to make sure that it is a right fit.

Nurse anesthesia is beautiful for me. Nurse anesthesia is an art.