MinorityNurse.com

 

To my fellow minorities, Be Encouraged

Getting into a Nurse Anesthesia Program is very challenging, and very cut-throat, however, it is very possible. The message I want to send here is IT IS VERY POSSIBLE!

I recently got into a Nurse Anesthesia program and there were certain ingredients that were necessary in attaining this personal goal. This outline may not be the exact outline for everyone, but the key is to outline a plan for your goal in nursing, particularly if you are planning to become a CRNA.

1. For nursing students registered nurses, speak with and personally shadow ICU nurses and SRNA's/CRNA's respectively to make sure that you have an idea of what you will be working so hard for.

2. Ask ICU RN's and SRNA's/CRNA's questions off-record to make sure that you will be a good fit for the field

3. Get the best grades that you can when working toward your RN so that grades will be less of a stressor when applying to a NAP.

4. Utilize your free time wisely by capitalizing on organizations such as the Diversity in Nurse Anesthesia Mentorship Program (www.diversitycrna.org) and their events (i.e. Luncheons, workshops, and this forum)

5. Be very careful who you openly share your career aspirations with.

6. From day 1 as a RN, build relationships with fellow RN's, MD's and other members of the healthcare team because healthcare, particularly Nurse Anesthesia, is a very "small world". In other words, everyone knows everyone in one way or another and you want to be know for your clinical skill, work ethic and interpersonal savy from day 1.

Lastly, remember that competition is healthy to an extent and all of us in healthcare are a team that relies on each other for support. That being said, encourage one another and provoke one another to be better especially as minorities.

Happy New Year to everyone. Hopefully this was encouraging and helpful. Wallena Gould CRNA, MS (the founder of the Diversity in Nurse Anesthesia Mentorship Program) is my mentor and she has shared this with me up to this point in my career and I was recently accepted into a NAP for Fall 2010 admission ;)