Med School Vs. Nursing Anesthetist School

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Last night over dinner with friends we had a heated debate about Nursing and how it would be smarter to go to Nursing school and get into Nurse Anathesia which is a great career and the income is not bad either RATHER than go to Medical school. My friends argument was this you can get into Nursing and earn a BSN in 4 years then head into a 30 months NA program and graduate earning 170,000 a year and work around 40 hours a week. Where as Med School your going 4 years Undergrad, $ years Med and residency where your making only like $34,000 a year and after that your making only $120,000 as a new MD. What??? is this true does anyone know the facts about this. I had a late night but today I am certainly going to do some research. I know I want to be a Doctor and no disrespect to Nurses but as a Nurse your still very limited in your practice and your still answering to guess who?!! The DOCTOR Im not on sme time of Control trip I am just surprised that Nurses can make that type of Money in so little time and the debt at the worst I was told after graduation is only like $70,000.00 Thats for her entire program. Can some one educate me more on this field, and is it really that much shorter than med school. I thought most Nursing programs had LONG wait list and it's usually around Three years for just a ASN Degree. Any Opinions. Thank Everyone!

up to you, im not going for med because of time or money. and even if ure a doctor, u still have to answer to someone. i dont correlate being a doctor to standing on top of the world...

That's not entirely true. You can't get into a Nursing Anesthetist program right after receiving your bachelor's, you have to have a certain amount of critical care experience as an RN. It's still a shorter and easier road than becoming an MD though.

CRNAs don't make $170,000, do they? I knew they made good money ($80-120,000) but I don't think they usually make $170,000

^^^ I think 80-120k is average starting salary for them....but from what I understand 170 is the ceiling.
http://www.crnasalary.com/

CRNA is definitely a good alternative to anesthesiology. I think it's going to be a heavily used resource in the future to cut costs over hiring more anesthesiologists.

Thanks For the link to CRNA SALARY.COM...Wow they do make a good living and at a University where I live they just need critical care experience as a BSN and they can apply no entrance exam, no GRE. ANd yes the total program is only $65,000. Not Bad at all.

In Southern Ill CRNA's Make 183,000...Crazy!

Originally Posted by quadraxis

That's not entirely true. You can't get into a Nursing Anesthetist program right after receiving your bachelor's, you have to have a certain amount of critical care experience as an RN. It's still a shorter and easier road than becoming an MD though.

http://www.anesthesiaassistant.com/

The equiv of a Nursing Anesthetist.

2 year program but limited states you can practice in. (no critical experience needed)

Greater salary on the up side too.

My frined said she needs to just be in critical care for 12 months, they are taking in consideration that she was a TECH for 5 years prior to Nursing school. She does not have to take any entrance exams or anything it's crazy. I wonder if this job is tedious and boring though not much interaction with a person sleeping under the knife I think I may get bored very easily.

In Philadelphia the nurse anesthetist salary ranges from 138-178 thousand dollars, with the 50%ile being 155 thousand.

Also, OP, residencies usually pay anywhere between $40,000 (low) to the high $50,000 spectrum.

From a financial standpoint yes there are tons of careers that may be more favorable financially than an MD. That horse is a bludgeoned ghost on these forums.

But as it was stated earlier, you're giving the best case scenario for most CRNA positions. The majority of them need 2 or more years of experience before starting CRNA school and most definitely don't make 170k/yr. That's like saying "well you could just go to med school become a plastic surgeon, move to LA or Miami and make 4 million a year." Of course that happens but it's not the norm.

CRNA/AA is hands down the best gig in healthcare right now. If I could go back in time and had to repick a career in healthcare (which I wouldn't by the way) this is the one I would choose by a landslide.

in my understand the OP doesn't even have a college degree. may want to work on that first.

Silly question to ask on SDN... I'm assuming most of the people here want to be doctors. Our responses might be slightly bias'ed in that direction.

Originally Posted by bannie22

up to you, im not going for med because of time or money. and even if ure a doctor, u still have to answer to someone. i dont correlate being a doctor to standing on top of the world...

I won't be able to stand on top of the world?

I'm always hesitant to jump on the wagon with that kind of stuff. While they may make solid money now, who knows about the future. If research piles up that there is a much greater risk going under by them will they see the same income? At one time radiologists knew and did everything the techs did. Eventually it become too unproductive and too much extra crap to learn. Not the same as someone that is practicing the same basic skills, but I see it as a chance to manage the AAs and what not for the more basic cases and leaving the anesthesiologist for the cases that require more skill and knowledge.

I personally like the potential to be the boss and have the knowledge base. It is a weird personal thing for me though.

Originally Posted by AngelaChanel34

My frined said she needs to just be in critical care for 12 months, they are taking in consideration that she was a TECH for 5 years prior to Nursing school. She does not have to take any entrance exams or anything it's crazy. I wonder if this job is tedious and boring though not much interaction with a person sleeping under the knife I think I may get bored very easily.

Right but becoming an AA is harder to get into but requires less experience than a CRNA

Before you look at CRNA with $$ in your eyes, remember that this is a nursing degree. I can tell you that I would rather make $30K as a physician than even spend one day as a nurse under any circumstances or for any salary. It just was not the profession for me (neither is dogcatcher).

To the folks who are nurses and love their profession, then this may be a great way to go but it's no substitute for being an anesthesiologist nor is it a good substitute for being a physician as these two professions (nursing and medicine) are quite different. In short, be sure that you spend some time investigating nursing and medicine rather than just looking at money.

With any healthcare profession, be sure to shadow some folks who are actually doing what you think you might want to enter. You may find, as I did, that there are some professions that are just not for you regardless of salary.

I Agree.

[QUOTE=MSSM2013;8831776]in my understand the OP doesn't even have a college degree. may want to work on that first.[/QUOTE

CALM DOWN! IT JUST A SIMPLE QUESTION!!! If you can go back and READ my post it's a Dinner discussion I had. Obviously the degree does help you think or understand a question. Back in 5th grade many of us were taught how to read and be critical thinkers, it doesn't take much to read the first line of my post I said Over Dinner I had a Discussion. I could not care less about money, you need it to live I just thought it was interesting a CRNA makes more than you will in 6 years after slaving away for 11years in Med School.

[QUOTE=AngelaChanel34;8832048]

Originally Posted by MSSM2013

in my understand the OP doesn't even have a college degree. may want to work on that first.[/QUOTE

CALM DOWN! IT JUST A SIMPLE QUESTION!!! If you can go back and READ my post it's a Dinner discussion I had. Obviously the degree does help you think or understand a question.

Don't worry about it man I thought that was a pretty asinine post myself. What sense does it make to get your degree first, then try to make a sound decision about what you want to do it life? It makes none.

WildCATS11 Please Read My post, Again. I don't recall ever saying Wow Screw the MD I wanna be a Nurse! If I was wanting to be a NA I would be posting on the Nurse-Anathesia.com Forum...

Again Another Comment by someone who did not read my post with any understanding. Im not looking at a career as a CRNA. MONEY$$$$$$$$?????That either, I could be DR. for free I really, really love medicine. I grew up well. Rich, to be blunt a famous father and the whole R&B Music scene so money is no stranger. I think Doctors aren't paid all that much for all they do. I am in a family will that will take care of me and my future grandchildren far beyond what I'll ever live to see. So Im silencing the MONEY making issue it's not a factor other than I will be a doctor and I assume I will be paid something for it. I was having dinner with friends two who are NP's and a friend who is a MD and studying to be a surgeon at Washington University and we all had too much to drink and he says to the Nurses who were saying how the Doctors often belittle them, your just mid-level medical field nurses with bloated salaries, well not as bloated as a Nurse Anesthetist I work with". He went into how much she was paid and we were pretty surprised and someone else began talking about how theres a NA school in our community and how basically simple it is to get into. I thought thats a little insane. Six figures in six years! for a Nurse? I never said anything about dropping Pre-Med and running over to sign up for Nursing.