I have been a CRNA for a few years now, and I would like to share the five tips that helped me get the most out of my ICU nursing experience.
Get ICU experience that is broad and in a teaching hospital.
You may only have the opportunity to work in a small community hospital because that’s all you have access to, but it’s better to work in a busy ICU setting where you can get really sick patients. When I was an ICU nurse, I worked at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York. It was a great teaching hospital and expanding my critical care skill set. NYU Langone Medical Center provided new graduate the ability to transition directing into the ICU with a nurse residency program. We received critical care lectures as well as clinical experience with most of the sickest patients in New York city. My ICU nursing experience definitely guided me and allowed me to learn a lot about critical care nursing and critical care medicine.
Get into the ICU of your interest.
The best ICU nursing experience is how you make your experience for yourself. There are many ICU nursing options, such as, medical ICU, surgical ICU, trauma ICU, cardiovascular ICU, critical care ICU, etc… If you don’t put yourself out there and get the sickest patients on the unit of your choice. You will not be able to learn and grow. You should take the initiative to be involved on your unit as well as be apart of quality improvement measures.
You don’t need a lot of experience for CRNA school
I actually had a classmate that only went into the ICU for one year before applying and getting accepted into CRNA school. It’s definitely an opportunity that can happen for you. When receiving your ICU nursing experience, make sure your obtain your critical care nursing certification. It’s important to obtain a broad skill set in ICU nursing as well as be active on your unit.
Try to be a part of a committee, writing protocols, research, and quality improvement measures. Be involved on your unit by being a charge nurse. Volunteer yourself to be a part of multiple aspects of being a ICU nurse. When you prepare for your CRNA school application, you want to have a strong resume with a wide range of activities. When you think about it, extracurricular activities are important for acceptance into any type of advanced practice registered nurse program. You don’t want to just be an average ICU nurse; you want to be involved in multiple aspects of ICU nursing to strength your CRNA school application.
When I was in the ICU, I was a part of the Resuscitation Committee, a charge ICU nurse, a part of making nursing protocols, and quality improvement measures. I enjoyed be involved in best practices and evidence base research. Additionally, I volunteered to be a part of a Substance Abuse Research Program at NYU Langone pharmacology department. This was a great opportunity to learn about substance abuse research. This experience gave me the ability to become more compassionate and understand the epidemic with the substance abuse population. Especially, being a CRNA, we are exposed to a wide variety of medications, such as, narcotics. There is an opioid epidemic and a lot of people are addicted to these drugs. This experience allowed me to have respect for substance abuse research, medication management, and future techniques to help with this epidemic.
Shadow a CRNA
It’s important to see what a CRNA does. You may have heard about it and read about it and said, “oh my god they make so much money.” Yes, that is true, however you want to go into a practice that you like. At the end of the day, when you choose to become a CRNA, you want to be happy and feel good about what you do in your career. You don’t want to spend time and money going into a profession that you do not 100% understand. I recommend that you shadow a CRNA multiple times to make sure it’s the right fit for you. I believe nursing anesthesia is beautiful. It’s an art. If you don’t have the best experience the first time, it may be beneficial to shadow another CRNA to make sure.
Get your CCRN
As I mentioned before, getting your critical care nursing certificate (CCRN) is essential. I recommend that you get it as soon as possible. This is nationwide and shows your knowledge base is the same accross all critical care locations and areas. Consider getting your mindset exposed to taking examinations. I recommend using Laura Gasparis Vonfrolio’s book and program.
Bonus Tips
- Keep up to date on critical care nursing skills
- Review your pathophysiology, pharmacology (especially know your medication drips in and out), and critical care certification textbook
- Make sure your ICU training compliments what you are studying in your study material
- Becoming a CRNA is a completely different field compare to ICU nursing. However, ICU nursing will lay a strong foundation CRNA school
- Anyone can do it, you just have to work hard and be patient
Thank you for reading this blog and I hope it helps you