Thinking of becoming an AA ... Any opinoins

[tropicaledit]

Hey all, I'm new to this field and I'm giving some thought to becoming an AA.

About myself: I'm currently 41 and would be applying to a program in about 2 + years from now. I've a Bachelors degree in the Film/Television (GPA 2.75 ish) I know the GPA is not good. I achieved a certain level of success in the film/Telvision industry. Worked on feature films/documentaries/National Commercials/Networks. Now I'm seriously considering a career change. This is partly because my best friend is a Cardiologist and has sparked my interest in the medical field.

My concern is, obviously there would be alot of science related pre-requistes I'd have to take and do well with. Lets say I do this and do acceptable on the GRE/MCAT. My question is, when applying to an AA program, is being accepted into a program as difficult as say, being accepted into Medical School?

What characteristics in an applicant are they looking for? How tough is
it to get into one of these programs. I would hate to put in 2 years of studying only to be rejected at the point of applying to the program.

Also, I was wodering if there were some AA's out there that could give they're opinion on the career.

All replies appreciated - Thanks

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[geogil]

What's an AA?

 

[urgewrx]

Anesthesiologist's Assistants: basically an anesthetist with a science background (more or less pre-med requirements) instead of nursing background (CRNA's).

There are 3 schools- Emory, Case Western, South University-Savannah? More are expected to open due to the shortage of anesthetists.

Make the same money as a CRNA(supervised CRNA) but need supervision by an anesthesiologist.

Think of it like a PA for anesthesiologists.

Can only get licensed in +/- 14 states, but that's expected to become national in the future. Can work in any VA hospital in the US.

Usual profile is kids who would have wanted to be physician but either did not want to put all the hard work into it, or their hard work wasn't good enough but did not want to go the foreign route. They tend to have a better relationship with anesthesiologists than CRNA's, since they respect all the hard work we have done to be where we are.

In my opinion it is better to work with an AA. What would you prefer: supervising somebody who did a BS at the local state college or somebody who earned a BSN from University of Phoenix on-line, somebody trained at a tertiary center by anesthesiologists(AA's) vs somebody trained in a community hospital in the bundocs by CRNA's?

OP: I think if you go and get your required classes and have good grades with a good MCAT you should be OK. I don't think they'll pay attention now to something you did 20 yrs ago.

 

[anes_asmaj]

There are actually 5 AA programs now:

Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia
Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio
South University in Savannah, Georgia
University of Missouri-Kansas City

Here are the states that they can currently work in: Florida, Georgia, Colorado, South Carolina, Alabama, Kentucky,
Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, Vermont, District of Columbia, Michigan, New Hampshire, Texas, West Virginia and Wisconsin

 

[Mr Pepper]

Anesthesiologist's Assistants: basically an anesthetist with a science background (more or less pre-med requirements) instead of nursing background (CRNA's).

There are 3 schools- Emory, Case Western, South University-Savannah? More are expected to open due to the shortage of anesthetists.

Make the same money as a CRNA(supervised CRNA) but need supervision by an anesthesiologist.

Think of it like a PA for anesthesiologists.

Can only get licensed in +/- 14 states, but that's expected to become national in the future. Can work in any VA hospital in the US.

Usual profile is kids who would have wanted to be physician but either did not want to put all the hard work into it, or their hard work wasn't good enough but did not want to go the foreign route. They tend to have a better relationship with anesthesiologists than CRNA's, since they respect all the hard work we have done to be where we are.

In my opinion it is better to work with an AA. What would you prefer: supervising somebody who did a BS at the local state college or somebody who earned a BSN from University of Phoenix on-line, somebody trained at a tertiary center by anesthesiologists(AA's) vs somebody trained in a community hospital in the bundocs by CRNA's?

OP: I think if you go and get your required classes and have good grades with a good MCAT you should be OK. I don't think they'll pay attention now to something you did 20 yrs ago.

Since when does applying to AA school automatically mean the applicant does not have an online degree? There are BS degrees offered online other than nursing. The average CRNA is not trained the way you described. Naturally, a militant anesthesiologist will prefer AAs. It feels good to be "needed". AA is a decent choice, but there are a lot of politics involved. I doubt if any AAs work for VA hospitals, because there aren't very many anesthesiologists who work for VA. If any AAs work for VA, you can count them on one hand.

 

[InductionAgent]

Since when does applying to AA school automatically mean the applicant does not have an online degree? There are BS degrees offered online other than nursing. The average CRNA is not trained the way you described. Naturally, a militant anesthesiologist will prefer AAs. It feels good to be "needed". AA is a decent choice, but there are a lot of politics involved. I doubt if any AAs work for VA hospitals, because there aren't very many anesthesiologists who work for VA. If any AAs work for VA, you can count them on one hand.

The figure of less than 5 AAs (if any) employed by the VA is merely speculative. As to the politics involved against AAs: who is their biggest opponent in this battle? (a rhetorical question)

 

[urgewrx]

Since when does applying to AA school automatically mean the applicant does not have an online degree?
The average CRNA is not trained the way you described.

Statistics. I need not say more.

 

[jwk]

Since when does applying to AA school automatically mean the applicant does not have an online degree? There are BS degrees offered online other than nursing. The average CRNA is not trained the way you described. Naturally, a militant anesthesiologist will prefer AAs. It feels good to be "needed". AA is a decent choice, but there are a lot of politics involved. I doubt if any AAs work for VA hospitals, because there aren't very many anesthesiologists who work for VA. If any AAs work for VA, you can count them on one hand.

Nitecap, is that you?

An anesthesiologist might prefer an AA for any number of reasons, none of them having anything to do with being "militant". Excellent training and clinical skills come to mind right off the bat.

And the only reason that politics are involved at all is because of militant CRNA's like yourself, who are scared to death of sharing their little piece of the pie with ANYONE - AA, MD or even sometimes another CRNA. They would rather lie to or even buy state legislators to prevent AA practice from expanding, and to convince them that someone with 2 years of training after their undergraduate degree is equivalent to 8 years of medical school and residency.