So You Want To Be a Nurse When You Grow Up?

You're interested in becoming a nurse. How doschool to become a CRNA?" (2)"What is your
you get into the field? First of all, you need tooutlook on the future of CRNAs?" (3) "What are
assess your basic interest. Why do you want tothe positive and negative aspects of working as a
get into nursing? Are you getting ready toCRNA?" Nurses are a kind body of professionals
graduate from high school and always wanted toand most won't mind that you took the time to
be a nurse? Do you want to go into nursing,contact them. It is always a good idea to get
because a relative is in the profession or yourfeedback from someone who is currently in the
family has a tradition of graduating nurses, and itfield (new graduate and seasoned professional), as
seems like the right thing to do? Nursing seemswell as retirees. Your email should be composed
like a nice secure profession-the pay attractsof a very brief note. Don't forget to thank them
you? You've always liked helping others and youfor their responses.
care a lot?Another place to locate a CRNA is the AOL
Have you worked in another career field andpeople directory, provided you are an AOL
want a change for various reasons? Does thesubscriber. On your navigational tool bar, just click
"nursing shortage" make you feel like you need toon "People”, then "Member Directory." Next,
be a part of the "gold rush," because you haveon the first text field line, type in
read and heard about all of the wonderful sign on“CRNA” and you will find hundreds of
bonuses? Thorough research still needs to beCRNAs who are already in your own backyard. If
done, before the decision is made to embarkyou are not an AOL subscriber, check to see if
upon a nursing career.your ISP has a searchable membership directory
There are many resources which provideand find other members in a similar fashion. Send
information on getting into nursing school, studyinga member or two the same introductory note
for and passing boards, getting into new graduatementioned earlier. This may be time consuming,
employment programs, summer exploratorybut going through nursing school and getting an
programs, etc. But for traditional nursing workadvanced degree, only to find it is not for you, is
(bedside nursing) in a hospital or long term careboth equally cost and time consuming. So save
facility (traditionally known as a nursing home), ityourself some time, money, and peace of mind.
really would do some good if you had a realityBecoming a CRNA is an investment.
TV type experience. Reading books and articlesNursing associations, in which your specialty area
exclusively, won't prepare you for what theis affiliated with, usually function on a national and
profession is like.local level. Here are two examples: on the national
During my first nursing clinical rotation, I knewlevel, American Association of Nurse Anesthetists,
instantly that I didn't like hospital nursing. However,[ and on the local level, Alabama Association of
I loved research, collecting data, writing papers,Nurse Anesthetists,
and so forth. Since I had a science backgroundIt's important to note, these are not the only
and had worked in various laboratory settingsCRNA focused nursing associations, they are
(e.g., a dairy plant testing milk to biotechnologymerely cited here as examples. Study their
company testing, human sera, a countyrespective websites and contact them to see if
environmental health lab testing water sample onyou can attend their next meeting. Tell them a
a mass spectrophotometer, a food plant testinglittle about yourself and interests in the profession,
spaghetti sauce), going into nursing researchand that you'd be interested in sitting in on a
seemed like a natural progression. The rudemeeting or attending an upcoming event, as a
awakening: No one ever told me about the 5-6guest. The national associations have local
years of med-surg hospital experience needed,affiliates, so find out where the nearest affiliate is
before an employer would even look at me. Itand give them a call or send email. The worst
was not anyone else's responsibility to tell me this.they can say is "No." If you don't receive a
Clearly, the lesson is to do all of your homework.favorable response, try another organization, even
After graduating from nursing school, I combedif you aren't interested in the specialty area.
the Internet, help wanted ads, journals, and evenRemember the idea is to gain some experience,
enlisted a network of friends to be on the lookoutand more knowledge about the profession of
for any nurse research employment opportunities.nursing.
Positions in nursing research were scarce. MyIf you get to attend one of the organization's
diverse science background, along with mymeetings or functions, you will surely meet nurses
Bachelor of Science degree from the Universitywho have changed specialty areas at some point
of Rochester, weren't a powerful enoughin their career. Therefore, interacting and mingling
combination to hurry me into the interviewingwill benefit you greatly. If you were interested in
seat. Hence, I never landed an interviewing spotanother specialty area, here is an ANA (American
for any nursing research positions.Nurses Association) link to Nursing Organizations:
There are simple, invaluable, economically efficientOnline nurse focused discussion forums are
ways to thoroughly research nursing as aanother place worth investing some time in. You
profession. Of course, nothing can substitute forcan ask the same open ended questions
the actual on the job experience. But you are notmentioned earlier. Or you can read message
there yet, and you want to investigate to see ifthreads of those who have already asked similar
you want to get there. Here a few suggestionsquestions about getting into nursing. Remember,
to include on your career research things to doyou don't have to be a nurse to read or
list: (1) utilize the Internet to the fullest, (2) useparticipate in most forums. Also, you may run
the services of your ISP (Internet Serviceacross some discussions from disgruntled
Provider) such as AOL, MSN, etc., (2) makemessage posters, but don't let this discourage
contact with potential employers in your area, (3)you, this is another person's experience. You are
try volunteering, (4) and find student mentors atnot in their situation. You don't have all of the
your local college and university. Start with anfacts. For all you know, the person may not even
open mind before you use any of thesebe a nurse. Be objective when you read the
resources.posts in the nursing forums. A good place to start
Many prospective students have their specialtyis All Nurses website, [ since it has one of the
title etched in stone. "I want to go into pediatriclargest number of participants in nursing forums.
nursing, because I love children." "I want to workContact your local hospitals and other employers
in trauma." Moreover, they don't want to discussthat hire nurses, and ask to speak with the
or research anything else. There is absolutelyhuman resources or personnel manager. The
nothing wrong with having a vision of whichmanager will be able to provide you with
practice area you'd like to specialize in, but it is ainformation on nursing and may be able to
good idea to keep the door open for otherconnect you with one of their employees who
possibilities. The turn over can be high and manywould speak with you about the profession.
nurses change specialty areas for variousThe last task you need to complete is to try to
reasons, from burnout, boredom, needing avolunteer at a hospital or nursing home. You don't
change of pace, advancement reasons, tohave to commit to a lifetime of volunteering;
unforeseen circumstances. The good thing aboutmany organizations need volunteers to sit with
changing specialty areas is your skills arepatients or residents as companions. Volunteering
transferable.in the mail department of any facility won't help,
Utilizing the Internet yields a wealth of information.so concentrate your efforts on volunteering in a
There are many contacts to be made on thepatient care setting, and then you can have a
Internet. Let's hypothesize, for referencedirect visual of the nurse-patient interaction. This
purposes, CRNA (Certified Nurse Anesthetist) willexperience will be invaluable for you.
be used as an example specialty area, andNow, if you have a busy schedule and you're
hypothetically, you are interested in becoming asaying, "I don't have time to volunteer," there's
CRNA. Keep in mind you have already researchedanother alternative for you. Contact your local
nursing schools, salary ranges, employmentcommunity college and college or university's
outlook, and in addition to becoming a registeredschool of nursing. You can ask them to put you in
nurse you're aware of the advanced degreecontact with a first & second year student
requirement. This part of your research hasat the community college and a freshman and
already been done.senior student and the college or university. Spend
There are many organizations where you cana day with them in school. Due to liability issues,
make email contact, or get other contactyou probably won't be able to go on the clinical
information from nurse professionals who arerotations with the senior student, but that student
retired CRNAs, or those who currently work incan inform you of what can be expected and you
the field. Go to to do a search. Try Google'scan attend a class or few for the day. Find out
advanced search feature and type in keywordshow many courses the student is enrolled in and
"email" and "CRNA" without quotes, on the firsthow much time is spent on studies. Remember,
line.this will vary with each student and educational
Your first 100 search results will include someinstitution.
email addresses for people who are actuallyAll of this data and experience should be collected
CRNAs. You will find some with universityand completed at least six months to a year
addresses, who may be professors or alumni,before you decide to apply to nursing school. The
company addresses of CRNAs who areCertified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA)
employees, and personal email addresses. Select atitle was used merely as an example and any
CRNA's email address from these four differentaspect of this career research can be applied to
areas: (1) university employed, (2) hospitalany person seeking information on how to career
employed, (3) military employed, (4) and otherresearch for becoming a nurse and wishing to
areas, such as a physician practice group. Topractice in any specialty area. Before you actually
narrow your search you may type in "email"start applying to schools and taking entrance
& "CRNA" or "military" or "physician practiceexams, as you can see there are many ways to
group" or "retired."do your research on nursing as a profession. In
Click on the web page links to view emailaddition to researching schools, reading career
addresses listed. Send each nurse professional abooks, taking aptitude tests, talking to family and
simple introductory email, about your interest infriends in the profession; these combined reality
the profession and ask them three open endedexperiences will help you to become better
questions: (1)"What are some of the things Iinformed and prepared for the decision you will
should consider before deciding to go to nursingmake. Best wishes with your nursing career.