April 8, 2026 • 29 mins
Ready for a real look inside CRNA admissions and the evolving practice of anesthesia? We invited Dr. Michelle Ballister—CRNA of 18 years, former admissions chair, and longtime educator—to share what truly moves the needle for applicants and what today’s anesthesia landscape demands from new clinicians. She pulls back the curtain on how committees segment GPAs (cumulative, science, prerequisite), why repeats aren’t an automatic dealbreaker, and how to present recent academic wins so they actually land.
We walk through the resume details that matter: clear timelines for travel assignments, perfect alignment between your application and CV, and meaningful leadership that shows you take initiative—charge shifts, precepting, committee work, research data collection, and community roles all count. If your GPA feels heavy from years of credits, Michelle offers a smarter path: targeted graduate-level courses like physiology or clinical pharmacology to prove you can excel now, deepen clinical knowledge, and potentially lighten a future semester. She also explains when to retake prerequisites versus when to invest in advanced coursework, with a reminder that program requirements aren’t negotiable and your time and money should work for you.
On the clinical front, we explore where anesthesia is heading: ultrasound-guided regional techniques, multimodal pain strategies, and a reduced reliance on opioids. Michelle shares how to translate that shift into interview strength—grounding answers in the autonomic nervous system, articulating GS vs GI signaling, and tying receptor talk to real drug effects and patient outcomes. Throughout, you’ll get practical scripts for contacting faculty, making the most of info sessions, and building credibility beyond the numbers.
If you’re aiming for CRNA school and want a plan that’s honest, efficient, and aligned with modern practice, this conversation will sharpen your approach and your confidence. If you found this helpful, subscribe, share with a fellow ICU nurse, and leave a review telling us the one action you’ll take this week.
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Ticket and Agenda Information: https://events.crnaschoolprepacademy.com/
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jenny Finnell (00:00):
Welcome to the Syrian School Perfect Academy
Podcast, where we have helpedcombine more than 10,000 IC
nurses on their path towardsCRNA school.
Our mission is to combineeducation, guidance, and
professional health so you canmove constantly towards your
dream of becoming a CRN.
Whether you're still a nursingschool or a seasoned IC nurse,
this podcast is here for you.
(00:21):
Let's get into today's episode.
Welcome back to Cyrus CoverAcademy Podcast.
Today you'll listen to one ofour faculty-led sessions
streamed live on CSPA'sInstagram.
Depend on the day, this may bean open QA where we take your
questions in real time or afocus topic discussion where we
go deep on the area that canstrengthen your knowledge and
build your confidence.
If you want to follow along,join us live, make sure you're
(00:42):
following CSPA on Instagram andwatch for session announcements.
You can also join CSPA's freecommunity where we'll share a
schedule of upcoming sessions.
When you tune in live, you canask questions, get clarity on
the spot, and then learnalongside other nurses
navigating the same path.
And as a quick reminder aboutwho you're learning from, every
session is led by CSPA coachesand faculty who are deeply
committed to your success inpursuing this career.
(01:04):
Without further ado, let's getinto today's show.
SPEAKER_02 (01:10):
Hello.
SPEAKER_01 (01:12):
This is my first time hosting a live QA for the
CRNA School Prep Academy.
Good evening.
My name is Dr.
Michelle Ballister, and I'vebeen a CRNA for 18 years.
And during that time, I havebeen a clinical instructor.
(01:34):
I've been academic faculty.
I've been the chair ofadmissions for a nurse
anesthesia program.
And I am currently one of thefaculty coaches and mentors with
the CRNA School Prep Academy.
So I'm here to chat with all ofyou for the next 20, 25 minutes
about all things CRNA.
(01:55):
Couple of announcements beforewe get going.
So follow CRNA School PrepAcademy on Instagram to get
notified about these liveevents.
And I'll be back at least once amonth from now until I stop
(02:18):
doing it.
I don't know how long that'sgoing to be, but I've been with
the Academy now for about threeyears, and it is something that
I really do enjoy.
Something else is that we havean in-person conference coming
up in June of this year inLouisville, Kentucky.
So if that is something you areinterested, go to CRNA
(02:40):
Schoolprepacademy.com to getmore information and find out
how you can attend and where togo and where to stay and all
those fun things.
And last but not least, join ourfree community through the link
tree in our bio.
Okay, so hello and thank you allfor those of you that are
(03:01):
joining me.
I am happy to take any and allquestions.
Thanks for all the waves.
I appreciate it.
You can send me a question anyold time you like.
I don't have any questions yet.
I do better with the questions.
SPEAKER_02 (03:21):
So what is it that you want to know?
SPEAKER_01 (03:38):
How to study as an SRNA.
Well, I haven't been an SRNAsince 2008.
I do remember studying long andhard.
Now, when you ask how, I mean,other than all day, every day,
(03:59):
what specifically are you askingme?
I was a note card person.
I also used a dry erase boardbecause I would like give myself
quizzes and I would, you know,write it out or draw it out and
I'd erase it and I'd write itout again.
And um I went to school beforewe had things like iPads and and
(04:20):
things of that nature.
We actually were given papernotes that we wrote.
Um but be a little bit morespecific when you say how do you
study as an sRNA.
And we'll come back to thatquestion.
All right.
Uh one I can see is tell meabout how current advancements
(04:43):
in the field of anesthesia wereand where you see the future of
anesthesia heading in terms ofpractice and education.
Current advancements.
Well, I can tell you that one ofthe biggest things that changed
from the time that I was astudent when I finished in 2008
and the time that I was faculty,which began in 2014 and finished
(05:04):
in 2022, was the incorporationof a whole part of the
curriculum around ultrasoundutilization and regional
anesthesia.
The regional training that thestudents went through for the
program that I taught at washead and shoulders above and
(05:27):
beyond what I experienced as astudent.
So I would say that one of thebiggest advancements is the
practice of regional anesthesia,the practice of ultrasound
guided regional anesthesia,stepping away from our use of
opioids to the degree that Itrained under over a decade ago,
(05:50):
and really getting into moremultimodal, non-opioid, regional
neuraxial, call it what youwant, but a diversified
anesthetic that has cRNAs doingmore of the hands-on regional
placements.
(06:13):
Let's see, wait, I'm scrollingback through because you guys
are typing faster than I amtalking, which uh thank you for
the comment about my necklace.
I will say that my um thenecklace was my mother's.
Um not that mom is still withme, so I don't want to give that
impression, uh, but it was agift to her on her first Holy
(06:34):
Communion.
And uh I've been wearing itsince I went away for my Army
summer.
And um I did ROTC in undergradand was not a CRNA in the Army.
I don't even want to begin togive anybody that impression.
Um, but I had to train a summeruh away from home, and mom gave
(06:55):
that to me.
Um congratulations to the personwho commented.
I had my first CRNA schoolinterview next week.
Best of luck to you.
Um there was a question that Imissed in here.
Okay, so you had to repeatgeneral chemistry one, three or
four times.
Will this really hurt me?
(07:16):
I'm retaking it in the summer.
Okay.
So, in my opinion, uh the peoplethat you are the programs that
you're applying to, the peoplethat are reviewing those
applications and thosetranscripts, they're not gonna
sit there and count through howmany times you took a course.
(07:37):
So the level of detail that thatwould require for the um
scrutiny to each and everyapplication, there were years
that I ran 180 applications.
I can't say that I went throughevery transcript and counted how
many times somebody took generalchemistry.
(07:58):
It was generally those gradeswere pulled by the registrar who
received the application, andthey would send to me what the
individual got in chemistry,anatomy, and physiology, and
then they would give me anoverall calculation, and the GPA
was broken down three ways.
One was a cumulative GPA, andthat was every college course
(08:19):
you ever took.
And if you took a college coursemore than once, the cumulative
GPA was calculated with whatthey call without forgiveness,
meaning that if you took it morethan once, both grades were
figured in.
So if you took basket weavingand got a D, and then repeated
basket weaving and got an A,then you had both grades figured
into your cumulative GPA.
(08:43):
I also got a science GPA thatwas calculated the much the same
way.
And that was every sciencecourse you ever took.
And then there was theprerequisite GPA, and that was
generally anatomy, physiology,pharmacology, chemistry, and
stats.
Those are the requirements forthe program, and that GPA was
(09:05):
calculated with forgiveness,meaning that if you took anatomy
and physiology twice, I wasgiven a better grade of the two.
So I think that the fact thatyou took it three or four times,
I don't know that anybody'sgonna really notice that.
Um, so I would say, no, will itreally hurt you?
(09:25):
What's gonna be most beneficialis that you learn chemistry, get
a good grade this summer, andsubmit that one.
SPEAKER_02 (09:52):
Is that an advertisement?
That's a nice um hourly rate.
SPEAKER_01 (10:02):
I'll give it that.
Okay, next question.
What are things in the resumethat make you stand out and what
are programs looking for intoday's age?
Things that make you stand out.
The first thing is your resumeneeds to be organized.
It needs to be easy to follow.
(10:24):
What I would find most confusingis if I couldn't track where you
were, when you were there, andwhat you were doing.
And that got a little bitconfusing when I started to look
at resumes from when peopletraveled a lot.
So I would recommend that youlay out your travel assignments
very specifically so that it'sclear where you were and what
(10:47):
you were doing.
Um the next thing I would lookfor is to make sure that your
resume was congruent with yourapplication.
So if you listed schools on thepaper application and the
degrees you got at thoseschools, and it didn't match up
with the education that waslisted on your resume, I wanted
(11:09):
to see congruency there.
I wanted to see what where youruh RN license was from, what
your certifications were.
They needed to match, it neededto be consistent.
So I did do a little bit ofchecking between the two to
ensure that there wasconsistency.
And part of that was also tomake sure I had the right resume
with the right application,because sometimes things would
(11:30):
get um uh cross-attached in thein the software system.
And then I would look for anykind of leadership, whether it
was a part of the workexperience or if it was in the
community or something asidefrom the community.
(11:50):
Um what I would best examples Ican give are people who
volunteered in their religiousorganizations.
They taught uh youth sports,those kinds of things.
I would I would annotateanything that showed involvement
in leadership.
(12:11):
Certainly you're gonna getcredit for anything that you do
within your unit, whether you'reon committees, you're
precepting, you're takingcharge, any leadership on the
unit counts.
If I would see a lot of peoplethat were participating in some
kind of organized researchproject, oftentimes they were
(12:32):
doing data collection at thebedside, that totally counts.
Occasionally somebody would havea poster presentation or even a
journal article publishedbecause of participation in one
of those research studies.
So if you have anything likethat, certainly throw it in.
Essentially, anything andeverything is fair game.
(12:55):
There was some interestingthings that would raise
questions.
Um if you moved within a year offrom a job and it wasn't a
travel assignment, like why wereyou jumping jobs from having a
job less than a year and thenrepeatedly jumping if it if you
(13:18):
weren't traveling as a goal atthat particular time?
Certainly I would recognize umpeople that you know spouses had
been transferred or they hadmilitary spouses and had to
move, but uh a pattern of havingjobs for less than a year,
(13:38):
especially right out ofundergrad, that was a bit of a
red flag.
The other thing was if there wasa big gap in the time that you
were working.
The best answer that I would getwhen we would ask uh individuals
(14:00):
about that is that they sought ajob outside of the profession.
And that's fine, but you want tojust put that in there.
When you list your employment,it should really be clear where
you were that entire time.
Your shadowing can go on there.
(14:21):
It doesn't have to be asdetailed as it is on your shadow
log.
You can list your references.
I would either follow atraditional resume format, or if
you have more than one pageworth of information for your
resume, I would go ahead and putthat in a traditional CV format.
You just want to make sure thatit's clear and organized and
easy to follow.
SPEAKER_02 (14:46):
Let's see what else do we have here?
SPEAKER_01 (14:53):
All right, there's a question that I'm currently
applying, but I know my GPA islow.
What else can I do to boost myGPA?
I have comp I have completedwith uh chem one, oh um organic
chem 1, organic chem 2, physics,advanced farm, and you retook
health assessment.
(15:14):
God bless you.
You have worked very hard justto get admitted.
Okay, so but your GPA is low.
What else can you do to boostyour GPA?
So you have to think about yourGPA.
Once you accumulate a certainamount of credits, think of your
GPA as a glass of water and youtake a drop of food coloring and
(15:35):
you drop it into an eight-ounceglass of water.
You really don't see much of adifference with one or two drops
of food coloring.
And that's how you kind of haveto think of a one, three credit
course against the other hundredand something credits you
already have.
You're not going to make a hugeimpact just from retaking one
(15:57):
course or adding three or fourcourses on top.
You're not going to see a hugeimpact.
You might see a change of atenth to a hundredth of a
degree.
So sometimes it's better topresent your recent academic
achievements and frame it adifferent way.
(16:17):
And that is going to be workingoutside of your paper admission.
It's going to involve callingfaculty, making appointments
with faculty, attendinginformation sessions for those
programs that you really want togo to and getting some facial
recognition from those folks.
There were many, many studentsthat I met with that were just
(16:39):
interested in the program.
This is, I could say, beforethey were students.
So I met with a lot ofcandidates, a lot of potential
applicants before they appliedto the program, before they
became my students.
And I was able to offer them thesame kind of guidance and
mentorship that the academy isoffering to you now.
It was slightly morepersonalized because I was
(17:01):
faculty at that program and theywere looking to apply, and it
was more of a one-to-oneconversation that offered them
specific guidance for them to besuccessful in applying to the
program I was faculty for.
So I would encourage you toreach out to the faculty members
because they they needcandidates.
(17:21):
They need students, they can'thave a class without you.
So if you're looking to besuccessful at a particular
program, reach out to theiradmissions persons.
You might have to start with theprogram director.
You can start with theregistrar's office, you can
start with student services forthe college that the program is
housed in.
One of those people should beable to set you up with the
(17:42):
person who runs admissions forthat particular program and can
offer you guidance.
It is not out of the ordinaryfor a faculty person to meet
with a candidate and offerguidance.
I did it all the time.
So that way, when you have thatmeeting, you can bring your
(18:04):
recent academic achievementswith you.
You bring all your transcripts,you highlight the ones that are
recently obtained, showing youracademic success, showing the
difference between then and now,and asking them, how do I be
successful in applying to yourprogram?
(18:25):
What else can I do?
And then you do what they tellyou.
Part of it might be taking agraduate level science course.
I often recommended thatapplicants who had less
competitive GPAs that they takea graduate level science course.
(18:46):
Graduate level physiology is agreat course to take.
So it's news you can use rightnow.
The second thing is it showsthat you can do graduate level
work.
So you're going to take thisclass and you're going to want
to be dedicated to this classbecause you want to want to get
(19:08):
a B or higher in this course.
You want to prove that you cando graduate level work.
It's a nice complement to a lesscompetitive GPA.
If you take it at a program thatyou get accepted to later on,
you might be able to decreaseyour workload one semester while
(19:29):
you're in school.
And that's a big bonus.
Now, you will have to check withthe registrar and the program as
to whether or not you get atuition break that semester.
Some programs you pay by credit,other programs you're paying in
a lump sum per semester.
So there are two things that aregoing to be very valuable to you
as a student.
One is going to be money, andthe other one is going to be
(19:51):
time.
So you might get some time backdoing the course ahead of time.
Okay.
Sorry, that was a text messagefrom the boss of CSBA making
sure that I was all in and goodwith you guys.
So um at 20 after eight, I'vegot time for one more question,
(20:17):
I think.
How do you evaluate aninterview's true understanding
of physiology or mechanisms?
Is explaining the G-coupleproteins and pathways enough?
I feel like I I feel likeanything I still brush the
surface of knowledge.
Okay.
The G proteins.
(20:38):
There's a ton of them.
There's a ton of the G proteins.
The D proteins are importantbecause they are very um active
inside of your autonomic nervoussystem as well as the pathways
(21:00):
for pain control.
So two things that we aremanipulating all the time your
pain receptors and yourautonomic nervous system.
So the G protein coupledreceptors.
I think if you understand thedifference between a GS protein
and a GI protein, that thatwould be important.
(21:25):
But generally you're going towant to be able to explain
whatever it is that you bringup.
So if somebody asks you aquestion about a drug and a
receptor, and you say it's a Gprotein coupled receptor, if
they ask you to explain what a Gprotein coupled receptor is, and
(21:45):
you can't, then you that's notgoing to be helpful.
So you want to be able to makesure that you understand the
structure and function of whatit is that you're saying.
So you can't just say it's a Gprotein coupled receptor.
You have to understand what theactual transfer is from the the
(22:09):
ligand to the receptor to the Gprotein to the alpha protein
that's sometimes in the middlethere, and then the second
messenger, and whether it'sgoing to cyclic AMP or IP3 and
what what the action is afterthat fact.
So I would focus it on the drugthat you're speaking of and not
(22:34):
just the general receptor.
So it dep it depends, and you'regonna get that answer a lot when
you ask questions inside ofanesthesia because it really
does depend.
So are you asking about generalphysiologic knowledge of what is
a G protein coupled receptor?
Or are you asking about apharmacology question as to what
happens when the ligand actsupon this particular G protein
(22:55):
coupled receptor?
Um keep in mind that there's areason that you're going to
anesthesia school, and that isbecause you don't know all this
stuff yet.
So it's okay if you don't have afirm, solid A-Z grasp on all of
this stuff.
(23:16):
If you're looking to focus onone thing, a good working
knowledge of the autonomicnervous system is always the
best place to start.
Because as a CRNA, you willmanipulate it up, down, left,
and right constantly.
I hope that I answered yourquestion.
(23:36):
Um, okay.
Torn between NNP and CRNA.
Any reasons to lean one way oranother?
NNP neonatal nurse practitioner?
Is that what the NNP stands for?
Or am I not sure what you meanthere.
(23:58):
The only thing I can think of isa neonatal nurse practitioner
and a CRNA.
Those are two very separatelines of work.
(24:31):
Alright, so I'm gonna close withuh the last question I can see.
Um that so the question is I gotC's in my nursing prewack
prereqs, anatomy, physiology,farm, and micro.
Should I retake or focus onhigher-level courses?
Okay.
Um I'm going to kind of kickthat back to you in and frame it
(24:55):
uh uh for you, depending onwhere you want to apply to
school.
So don't forget that time andmoney are resources that you
have and then things that you'regoing to need when you get to
anesthesia school.
So if you spend a lot of moneyretaking courses, then you will
have less money for your tuitionwhen you get to anesthesia
(25:16):
school and you're not working.
So if you got Cs across theboard, I would say yes, you
should retake them.
If those courses are within thelast, say, um five years, then
it's probably a good idea toretake them if it sees across
(25:41):
the board, especially if thereis a time requirement for the
prerequisites from the programsyou're applying to.
So you may see it's arecommendation or it's a
requirement.
Now, first of all, if there's arequirement on the application
from a program, you do not wantto call the program and ask for
it to be waived.
(26:02):
A requirement's a requirement.
It's there for a reason.
You do not want your first, youdo not want your first
impression with the faculty andthe admissions department to be
asking for leeway on something.
No.
A requirement's a requirement,those are the rules, you produce
what it is that's being requiredthat's being asked for.
(26:24):
Or you don't apply to thatschool.
I was applying to schools, therewas a program that wanted
undergraduate physics, I had nodesire to take undergraduate
physics, so I did not apply tothat school.
That's what I'm talking about.
So if you see that there is arequirement for the courses to
be within a certain time frame,and your prerequisites are not
(26:45):
within that time frame, thenretake the courses.
If it's a recommendation, thenyou have another option, and
that is to take a higher levelcourse.
Take a graduate levelphysiology, take a graduate
level clinical pharmacology,because then you get the twofer,
(27:05):
you get the proof that you cando graduate level work, and then
you also get the advancedknowledge.
If the program does not acceptthose credits to into their
particular program, and then youhave to retake that physiology
and the pharmacology whileyou're in anesthesia school,
that's okay, because you willget reinforcement of the
knowledge that you recentlygained, as well as you'll most
(27:28):
likely do really well in thosecourses.
So I think you can take iteither way.
I would investigate firstwhether it is a recommendation
or a requirement, and then seeif you have the option to take
those graduate level courses ina program that you're looking to
attend, and then again make yourworkload lighter for one
(27:50):
semester possibly.
Um it also would give you anopportunity to establish a
relationship with that program,get some name recognition, and
so forth.
So I know that that was a verylong answer inside of about uh
three minutes, and if um if thatwasn't clear, you can find me at
(28:11):
the academy and I will answerthat for you in a little bit
more detail.
But thank you all for joiningme.
That is my time this evening.
This again is my first uh livesession with CRNA School Prep
Academy.
You'll see me back next monthwith some fun topic of interest
that you always wanted to knowabout.
(28:33):
Um again, just to reinforcethose announcements, follow us
on Instagram, CRNA School PrepAcademy.
Check out CRNA SchoolprepAcademy.com for our conference
coming this June in Louisville,Kentucky, and then connect with
our community on the Link Tree.
(28:53):
All right, thanks everybody.
Have a good night.
Jenny Finnell (28:58):
Thank you for joining us on the CRNA School
Prep Academy podcast.
We hope today's episode gave youclarity and confidence for the
road ahead.
Keep showing up for your goals,keep learning, and keep
believing what's possible foryou.
We're always rooting for you inyour future as a CRNA.
Until next time, take care.
Welcome to the Syrian School Perfect Academy
Podcast, where we have helpedcombine more than 10,000 IC
nurses on their path towardsCRNA school.
Our mission is to combineeducation, guidance, and
professional health so you canmove constantly towards your
dream of becoming a CRN.
Whether you're still a nursingschool or a seasoned IC nurse,
this podcast is here for you.
(00:21):
Let's get into today's episode.
Welcome back to Cyrus CoverAcademy Podcast.
Today you'll listen to one ofour faculty-led sessions
streamed live on CSPA'sInstagram.
Depend on the day, this may bean open QA where we take your
questions in real time or afocus topic discussion where we
go deep on the area that canstrengthen your knowledge and
build your confidence.
If you want to follow along,join us live, make sure you're
(00:42):
following CSPA on Instagram andwatch for session announcements.
You can also join CSPA's freecommunity where we'll share a
schedule of upcoming sessions.
When you tune in live, you canask questions, get clarity on
the spot, and then learnalongside other nurses
navigating the same path.
And as a quick reminder aboutwho you're learning from, every
session is led by CSPA coachesand faculty who are deeply
committed to your success inpursuing this career.
(01:04):
Without further ado, let's getinto today's show.
SPEAKER_02 (01:10):
Hello.
SPEAKER_01 (01:12):
This is my first time hosting a live QA for the
CRNA School Prep Academy.
Good evening.
My name is Dr.
Michelle Ballister, and I'vebeen a CRNA for 18 years.
And during that time, I havebeen a clinical instructor.
(01:34):
I've been academic faculty.
I've been the chair ofadmissions for a nurse
anesthesia program.
And I am currently one of thefaculty coaches and mentors with
the CRNA School Prep Academy.
So I'm here to chat with all ofyou for the next 20, 25 minutes
about all things CRNA.
(01:55):
Couple of announcements beforewe get going.
So follow CRNA School PrepAcademy on Instagram to get
notified about these liveevents.
And I'll be back at least once amonth from now until I stop
(02:18):
doing it.
I don't know how long that'sgoing to be, but I've been with
the Academy now for about threeyears, and it is something that
I really do enjoy.
Something else is that we havean in-person conference coming
up in June of this year inLouisville, Kentucky.
So if that is something you areinterested, go to CRNA
(02:40):
Schoolprepacademy.com to getmore information and find out
how you can attend and where togo and where to stay and all
those fun things.
And last but not least, join ourfree community through the link
tree in our bio.
Okay, so hello and thank you allfor those of you that are
(03:01):
joining me.
I am happy to take any and allquestions.
Thanks for all the waves.
I appreciate it.
You can send me a question anyold time you like.
I don't have any questions yet.
I do better with the questions.
SPEAKER_02 (03:21):
So what is it that you want to know?
SPEAKER_01 (03:38):
How to study as an SRNA.
Well, I haven't been an SRNAsince 2008.
I do remember studying long andhard.
Now, when you ask how, I mean,other than all day, every day,
(03:59):
what specifically are you askingme?
I was a note card person.
I also used a dry erase boardbecause I would like give myself
quizzes and I would, you know,write it out or draw it out and
I'd erase it and I'd write itout again.
And um I went to school beforewe had things like iPads and and
(04:20):
things of that nature.
We actually were given papernotes that we wrote.
Um but be a little bit morespecific when you say how do you
study as an sRNA.
And we'll come back to thatquestion.
All right.
Uh one I can see is tell meabout how current advancements
(04:43):
in the field of anesthesia wereand where you see the future of
anesthesia heading in terms ofpractice and education.
Current advancements.
Well, I can tell you that one ofthe biggest things that changed
from the time that I was astudent when I finished in 2008
and the time that I was faculty,which began in 2014 and finished
(05:04):
in 2022, was the incorporationof a whole part of the
curriculum around ultrasoundutilization and regional
anesthesia.
The regional training that thestudents went through for the
program that I taught at washead and shoulders above and
(05:27):
beyond what I experienced as astudent.
So I would say that one of thebiggest advancements is the
practice of regional anesthesia,the practice of ultrasound
guided regional anesthesia,stepping away from our use of
opioids to the degree that Itrained under over a decade ago,
(05:50):
and really getting into moremultimodal, non-opioid, regional
neuraxial, call it what youwant, but a diversified
anesthetic that has cRNAs doingmore of the hands-on regional
placements.
(06:13):
Let's see, wait, I'm scrollingback through because you guys
are typing faster than I amtalking, which uh thank you for
the comment about my necklace.
I will say that my um thenecklace was my mother's.
Um not that mom is still withme, so I don't want to give that
impression, uh, but it was agift to her on her first Holy
(06:34):
Communion.
And uh I've been wearing itsince I went away for my Army
summer.
And um I did ROTC in undergradand was not a CRNA in the Army.
I don't even want to begin togive anybody that impression.
Um, but I had to train a summeruh away from home, and mom gave
(06:55):
that to me.
Um congratulations to the personwho commented.
I had my first CRNA schoolinterview next week.
Best of luck to you.
Um there was a question that Imissed in here.
Okay, so you had to repeatgeneral chemistry one, three or
four times.
Will this really hurt me?
(07:16):
I'm retaking it in the summer.
Okay.
So, in my opinion, uh the peoplethat you are the programs that
you're applying to, the peoplethat are reviewing those
applications and thosetranscripts, they're not gonna
sit there and count through howmany times you took a course.
(07:37):
So the level of detail that thatwould require for the um
scrutiny to each and everyapplication, there were years
that I ran 180 applications.
I can't say that I went throughevery transcript and counted how
many times somebody took generalchemistry.
(07:58):
It was generally those gradeswere pulled by the registrar who
received the application, andthey would send to me what the
individual got in chemistry,anatomy, and physiology, and
then they would give me anoverall calculation, and the GPA
was broken down three ways.
One was a cumulative GPA, andthat was every college course
(08:19):
you ever took.
And if you took a college coursemore than once, the cumulative
GPA was calculated with whatthey call without forgiveness,
meaning that if you took it morethan once, both grades were
figured in.
So if you took basket weavingand got a D, and then repeated
basket weaving and got an A,then you had both grades figured
into your cumulative GPA.
(08:43):
I also got a science GPA thatwas calculated the much the same
way.
And that was every sciencecourse you ever took.
And then there was theprerequisite GPA, and that was
generally anatomy, physiology,pharmacology, chemistry, and
stats.
Those are the requirements forthe program, and that GPA was
(09:05):
calculated with forgiveness,meaning that if you took anatomy
and physiology twice, I wasgiven a better grade of the two.
So I think that the fact thatyou took it three or four times,
I don't know that anybody'sgonna really notice that.
Um, so I would say, no, will itreally hurt you?
(09:25):
What's gonna be most beneficialis that you learn chemistry, get
a good grade this summer, andsubmit that one.
SPEAKER_02 (09:52):
Is that an advertisement?
That's a nice um hourly rate.
SPEAKER_01 (10:02):
I'll give it that.
Okay, next question.
What are things in the resumethat make you stand out and what
are programs looking for intoday's age?
Things that make you stand out.
The first thing is your resumeneeds to be organized.
It needs to be easy to follow.
(10:24):
What I would find most confusingis if I couldn't track where you
were, when you were there, andwhat you were doing.
And that got a little bitconfusing when I started to look
at resumes from when peopletraveled a lot.
So I would recommend that youlay out your travel assignments
very specifically so that it'sclear where you were and what
(10:47):
you were doing.
Um the next thing I would lookfor is to make sure that your
resume was congruent with yourapplication.
So if you listed schools on thepaper application and the
degrees you got at thoseschools, and it didn't match up
with the education that waslisted on your resume, I wanted
(11:09):
to see congruency there.
I wanted to see what where youruh RN license was from, what
your certifications were.
They needed to match, it neededto be consistent.
So I did do a little bit ofchecking between the two to
ensure that there wasconsistency.
And part of that was also tomake sure I had the right resume
with the right application,because sometimes things would
(11:30):
get um uh cross-attached in thein the software system.
And then I would look for anykind of leadership, whether it
was a part of the workexperience or if it was in the
community or something asidefrom the community.
(11:50):
Um what I would best examples Ican give are people who
volunteered in their religiousorganizations.
They taught uh youth sports,those kinds of things.
I would I would annotateanything that showed involvement
in leadership.
(12:11):
Certainly you're gonna getcredit for anything that you do
within your unit, whether you'reon committees, you're
precepting, you're takingcharge, any leadership on the
unit counts.
If I would see a lot of peoplethat were participating in some
kind of organized researchproject, oftentimes they were
(12:32):
doing data collection at thebedside, that totally counts.
Occasionally somebody would havea poster presentation or even a
journal article publishedbecause of participation in one
of those research studies.
So if you have anything likethat, certainly throw it in.
Essentially, anything andeverything is fair game.
(12:55):
There was some interestingthings that would raise
questions.
Um if you moved within a year offrom a job and it wasn't a
travel assignment, like why wereyou jumping jobs from having a
job less than a year and thenrepeatedly jumping if it if you
(13:18):
weren't traveling as a goal atthat particular time?
Certainly I would recognize umpeople that you know spouses had
been transferred or they hadmilitary spouses and had to
move, but uh a pattern of havingjobs for less than a year,
(13:38):
especially right out ofundergrad, that was a bit of a
red flag.
The other thing was if there wasa big gap in the time that you
were working.
The best answer that I would getwhen we would ask uh individuals
(14:00):
about that is that they sought ajob outside of the profession.
And that's fine, but you want tojust put that in there.
When you list your employment,it should really be clear where
you were that entire time.
Your shadowing can go on there.
(14:21):
It doesn't have to be asdetailed as it is on your shadow
log.
You can list your references.
I would either follow atraditional resume format, or if
you have more than one pageworth of information for your
resume, I would go ahead and putthat in a traditional CV format.
You just want to make sure thatit's clear and organized and
easy to follow.
SPEAKER_02 (14:46):
Let's see what else do we have here?
SPEAKER_01 (14:53):
All right, there's a question that I'm currently
applying, but I know my GPA islow.
What else can I do to boost myGPA?
I have comp I have completedwith uh chem one, oh um organic
chem 1, organic chem 2, physics,advanced farm, and you retook
health assessment.
(15:14):
God bless you.
You have worked very hard justto get admitted.
Okay, so but your GPA is low.
What else can you do to boostyour GPA?
So you have to think about yourGPA.
Once you accumulate a certainamount of credits, think of your
GPA as a glass of water and youtake a drop of food coloring and
(15:35):
you drop it into an eight-ounceglass of water.
You really don't see much of adifference with one or two drops
of food coloring.
And that's how you kind of haveto think of a one, three credit
course against the other hundredand something credits you
already have.
You're not going to make a hugeimpact just from retaking one
(15:57):
course or adding three or fourcourses on top.
You're not going to see a hugeimpact.
You might see a change of atenth to a hundredth of a
degree.
So sometimes it's better topresent your recent academic
achievements and frame it adifferent way.
(16:17):
And that is going to be workingoutside of your paper admission.
It's going to involve callingfaculty, making appointments
with faculty, attendinginformation sessions for those
programs that you really want togo to and getting some facial
recognition from those folks.
There were many, many studentsthat I met with that were just
(16:39):
interested in the program.
This is, I could say, beforethey were students.
So I met with a lot ofcandidates, a lot of potential
applicants before they appliedto the program, before they
became my students.
And I was able to offer them thesame kind of guidance and
mentorship that the academy isoffering to you now.
It was slightly morepersonalized because I was
(17:01):
faculty at that program and theywere looking to apply, and it
was more of a one-to-oneconversation that offered them
specific guidance for them to besuccessful in applying to the
program I was faculty for.
So I would encourage you toreach out to the faculty members
because they they needcandidates.
(17:21):
They need students, they can'thave a class without you.
So if you're looking to besuccessful at a particular
program, reach out to theiradmissions persons.
You might have to start with theprogram director.
You can start with theregistrar's office, you can
start with student services forthe college that the program is
housed in.
One of those people should beable to set you up with the
(17:42):
person who runs admissions forthat particular program and can
offer you guidance.
It is not out of the ordinaryfor a faculty person to meet
with a candidate and offerguidance.
I did it all the time.
So that way, when you have thatmeeting, you can bring your
(18:04):
recent academic achievementswith you.
You bring all your transcripts,you highlight the ones that are
recently obtained, showing youracademic success, showing the
difference between then and now,and asking them, how do I be
successful in applying to yourprogram?
(18:25):
What else can I do?
And then you do what they tellyou.
Part of it might be taking agraduate level science course.
I often recommended thatapplicants who had less
competitive GPAs that they takea graduate level science course.
(18:46):
Graduate level physiology is agreat course to take.
So it's news you can use rightnow.
The second thing is it showsthat you can do graduate level
work.
So you're going to take thisclass and you're going to want
to be dedicated to this classbecause you want to want to get
(19:08):
a B or higher in this course.
You want to prove that you cando graduate level work.
It's a nice complement to a lesscompetitive GPA.
If you take it at a program thatyou get accepted to later on,
you might be able to decreaseyour workload one semester while
(19:29):
you're in school.
And that's a big bonus.
Now, you will have to check withthe registrar and the program as
to whether or not you get atuition break that semester.
Some programs you pay by credit,other programs you're paying in
a lump sum per semester.
So there are two things that aregoing to be very valuable to you
as a student.
One is going to be money, andthe other one is going to be
(19:51):
time.
So you might get some time backdoing the course ahead of time.
Okay.
Sorry, that was a text messagefrom the boss of CSBA making
sure that I was all in and goodwith you guys.
So um at 20 after eight, I'vegot time for one more question,
(20:17):
I think.
How do you evaluate aninterview's true understanding
of physiology or mechanisms?
Is explaining the G-coupleproteins and pathways enough?
I feel like I I feel likeanything I still brush the
surface of knowledge.
Okay.
The G proteins.
(20:38):
There's a ton of them.
There's a ton of the G proteins.
The D proteins are importantbecause they are very um active
inside of your autonomic nervoussystem as well as the pathways
(21:00):
for pain control.
So two things that we aremanipulating all the time your
pain receptors and yourautonomic nervous system.
So the G protein coupledreceptors.
I think if you understand thedifference between a GS protein
and a GI protein, that thatwould be important.
(21:25):
But generally you're going towant to be able to explain
whatever it is that you bringup.
So if somebody asks you aquestion about a drug and a
receptor, and you say it's a Gprotein coupled receptor, if
they ask you to explain what a Gprotein coupled receptor is, and
(21:45):
you can't, then you that's notgoing to be helpful.
So you want to be able to makesure that you understand the
structure and function of whatit is that you're saying.
So you can't just say it's a Gprotein coupled receptor.
You have to understand what theactual transfer is from the the
(22:09):
ligand to the receptor to the Gprotein to the alpha protein
that's sometimes in the middlethere, and then the second
messenger, and whether it'sgoing to cyclic AMP or IP3 and
what what the action is afterthat fact.
So I would focus it on the drugthat you're speaking of and not
(22:34):
just the general receptor.
So it dep it depends, and you'regonna get that answer a lot when
you ask questions inside ofanesthesia because it really
does depend.
So are you asking about generalphysiologic knowledge of what is
a G protein coupled receptor?
Or are you asking about apharmacology question as to what
happens when the ligand actsupon this particular G protein
(22:55):
coupled receptor?
Um keep in mind that there's areason that you're going to
anesthesia school, and that isbecause you don't know all this
stuff yet.
So it's okay if you don't have afirm, solid A-Z grasp on all of
this stuff.
(23:16):
If you're looking to focus onone thing, a good working
knowledge of the autonomicnervous system is always the
best place to start.
Because as a CRNA, you willmanipulate it up, down, left,
and right constantly.
I hope that I answered yourquestion.
(23:36):
Um, okay.
Torn between NNP and CRNA.
Any reasons to lean one way oranother?
NNP neonatal nurse practitioner?
Is that what the NNP stands for?
Or am I not sure what you meanthere.
(23:58):
The only thing I can think of isa neonatal nurse practitioner
and a CRNA.
Those are two very separatelines of work.
(24:31):
Alright, so I'm gonna close withuh the last question I can see.
Um that so the question is I gotC's in my nursing prewack
prereqs, anatomy, physiology,farm, and micro.
Should I retake or focus onhigher-level courses?
Okay.
Um I'm going to kind of kickthat back to you in and frame it
(24:55):
uh uh for you, depending onwhere you want to apply to
school.
So don't forget that time andmoney are resources that you
have and then things that you'regoing to need when you get to
anesthesia school.
So if you spend a lot of moneyretaking courses, then you will
have less money for your tuitionwhen you get to anesthesia
(25:16):
school and you're not working.
So if you got Cs across theboard, I would say yes, you
should retake them.
If those courses are within thelast, say, um five years, then
it's probably a good idea toretake them if it sees across
(25:41):
the board, especially if thereis a time requirement for the
prerequisites from the programsyou're applying to.
So you may see it's arecommendation or it's a
requirement.
Now, first of all, if there's arequirement on the application
from a program, you do not wantto call the program and ask for
it to be waived.
(26:02):
A requirement's a requirement.
It's there for a reason.
You do not want your first, youdo not want your first
impression with the faculty andthe admissions department to be
asking for leeway on something.
No.
A requirement's a requirement,those are the rules, you produce
what it is that's being requiredthat's being asked for.
(26:24):
Or you don't apply to thatschool.
I was applying to schools, therewas a program that wanted
undergraduate physics, I had nodesire to take undergraduate
physics, so I did not apply tothat school.
That's what I'm talking about.
So if you see that there is arequirement for the courses to
be within a certain time frame,and your prerequisites are not
(26:45):
within that time frame, thenretake the courses.
If it's a recommendation, thenyou have another option, and
that is to take a higher levelcourse.
Take a graduate levelphysiology, take a graduate
level clinical pharmacology,because then you get the twofer,
(27:05):
you get the proof that you cando graduate level work, and then
you also get the advancedknowledge.
If the program does not acceptthose credits to into their
particular program, and then youhave to retake that physiology
and the pharmacology whileyou're in anesthesia school,
that's okay, because you willget reinforcement of the
knowledge that you recentlygained, as well as you'll most
(27:28):
likely do really well in thosecourses.
So I think you can take iteither way.
I would investigate firstwhether it is a recommendation
or a requirement, and then seeif you have the option to take
those graduate level courses ina program that you're looking to
attend, and then again make yourworkload lighter for one
(27:50):
semester possibly.
Um it also would give you anopportunity to establish a
relationship with that program,get some name recognition, and
so forth.
So I know that that was a verylong answer inside of about uh
three minutes, and if um if thatwasn't clear, you can find me at
(28:11):
the academy and I will answerthat for you in a little bit
more detail.
But thank you all for joiningme.
That is my time this evening.
This again is my first uh livesession with CRNA School Prep
Academy.
You'll see me back next monthwith some fun topic of interest
that you always wanted to knowabout.
(28:33):
Um again, just to reinforcethose announcements, follow us
on Instagram, CRNA School PrepAcademy.
Check out CRNA SchoolprepAcademy.com for our conference
coming this June in Louisville,Kentucky, and then connect with
our community on the Link Tree.
(28:53):
All right, thanks everybody.
Have a good night.
Jenny Finnell (28:58):
Thank you for joining us on the CRNA School
Prep Academy podcast.
We hope today's episode gave youclarity and confidence for the
road ahead.
Keep showing up for your goals,keep learning, and keep
believing what's possible foryou.
We're always rooting for you inyour future as a CRNA.
Until next time, take care.
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