AA school???

[jjeff]

I am not sure if this is the right place to post this but I looked at the AA public forum and there is not much activity on there and it is hard to read.
I have just finished all prereq's and I have been trying to decide whether or not I should go into this field. I am a BS,RRT and love and have always loved the Anesthesia profession. I just want to practice anesthesia no matter what. The problem I am having is which route to go. I need a little input from those that are about to go into it and also those that are already there. I have noticed that the nurses that do anesthesia are really territorial about this and the doctors seem to want to teach. Would I be wasting my time and money going the AA route? I love the idea of becoming a physician and doing anesthesia but I am in my 40's and have a 7 y/o girl and don't want to miss out on her growing up. The nursing part seems more stable but I do NOT want to be a nurse, that would mean even more school than I already have. I have A's and B's in all my premed classes. If I were to get accepted to AA school would there be any real chance of some of you future Anesthesiologists hiring an AA. I mean would you really pick a AA over a nurse or would you just prefer the nurses to accept working under you and preferrably hire them. I just don't know what I should do. I know you can't really answer this question for me but I hoped that you could give me some of your opinions. I eventually would like to go back to my home state to practice but they don't have AA's there.

Thanks

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[amyl]

There was just a thread about anesthesiologist preference between AAs and CRNAs and I am pretty sure the consensus was that Anesthesiologists prefer AAs.
My medical school has one of the few AA schools in the country (NSUCOM in Florida) and I rotate with some of the AA students. I have been impressed with them so far. One of the AA students at my home hospital - her husband is an anesthesiologist - he recommended AA school over CRNA school.
Don't know if any of that helps...PM me if you have any other questions or are interested in the AA school at NSU...

 

[VolatileAgent]

open an abundance of AA schools then flash forward 20-30 years... same problems you have now with CRNAs. better bet is to effectively resolve our differences and create a system where we work together professionally and respectfully now.

this whole CRNA/AA/MD/DO thing is like a game of chess where the knight is trying to capture the queen. the knight is pretty slick and can jump around in seemingly unexpected and upredictable ways, but the queen can still move anywhere and in any direction. we just have to hope that we've strategically placed the rest of the chess pieces on the board to protect her. that's where our focus should be.

 

[cfdavid]

I think jwk could answer this one better. I'm in med school now but researched the AA route as well. I spent a day at Case Western and the guys there were very happy with their program and were getting great job offers. And they were quality people, and most made the choice (i'd argue that most did have a choice) not to do med school for one reason or another. Regardless of the current politics, as an AA, you will have some really nice opportunities for the foreseeable future.

Then again, it really does depend on whether you want to be a physician. The PD of the AA program there told me flat out, "We're technicians. Highly skilled and well trained, but if you want to be a doctor go to med school."
I swear I'm not making that quote up based on current politics. I'm a supporter of AA's. But, it was good advice as it forced me to evaluate my own goals and preferences. You'll need to do the same.

 

[jwk]

I am not sure if this is the right place to post this but I looked at the AA public forum and there is not much activity on there and it is hard to read.
I have just finished all prereq's and I have been trying to decide whether or not I should go into this field. I am a BS,RRT and love and have always loved the Anesthesia profession. I just want to practice anesthesia no matter what. The problem I am having is which route to go. I need a little input from those that are about to go into it and also those that are already there. I have noticed that the nurses that do anesthesia are really territorial about this and the doctors seem to want to teach. Would I be wasting my time and money going the AA route? I love the idea of becoming a physician and doing anesthesia but I am in my 40's and have a 7 y/o girl and don't want to miss out on her growing up. The nursing part seems more stable but I do NOT want to be a nurse, that would mean even more school than I already have. I have A's and B's in all my premed classes. If I were to get accepted to AA school would there be any real chance of some of you future Anesthesiologists hiring an AA. I mean would you really pick a AA over a nurse or would you just prefer the nurses to accept working under you and preferrably hire them. I just don't know what I should do. I know you can't really answer this question for me but I hoped that you could give me some of your opinions. I eventually would like to go back to my home state to practice but they don't have AA's there.

Thanks

Numerous RRT's have gone through the AA programs - they do very well.

You have the pre-reqs - apply for next year's class and you'll be done and practicing in about three years. If you go the CRNA route, you'll have to go back to nursing school (min 2 years), then at least a year of critical care, and then CRNA school (2-3) so you're looking at a minimum of six years out from now.

PM me with any specific questions you might have and I can probably answer them for you.

 

[poster]

Yes, we would hire you except there are no AA's where we work. I believe Vol. stated that if you flash forward 20-30 yrs. there would be the same problems but that is just not true.

 

[rmh149]

CRNA here.

If you are 40 years old now...I think AA school would be the fastest way to go. If you wanted to go the CRNA route you would have to go get your BSN, maybe a year and half with the background and education you already have. Then you would have to get at least one year of ICU experience (avg is 4 years). They 28-36 months of graduate school. This has you in the OR around 47.

Your background sets you up nicely to attend AA school. With two years for graduate school, this has you in the OR at 43. What you have to decide is if you would be willing to live in the states that accept AA's. Of course these numbers will probably increase since covering anesthesia nationwide is going to be a challenge.

I aslo think you should visit the webistes that represent AA's and CRNA's.

www.aana.com is for CRNA's. I think the aa's are represented by AAAA. I dont now their website.

There a practice differences in the two. Check out the differences in and decide what you really want.

Anesthesia is a blast and you should do whatever it takes to get in.

 

[rmh149]

There was just a thread about anesthesiologist preference between AAs and CRNAs and I am pretty sure the consensus was that Anesthesiologists prefer AAs.
My medical school has one of the few AA schools in the country (NSUCOM in Florida) and I rotate with some of the AA students. I have been impressed with them so far. One of the AA students at my home hospital - her husband is an anesthesiologist - he recommended AA school over CRNA school.
Don't know if any of that helps...PM me if you have any other questions or are interested in the AA school at NSU...

I would agree that the consensus with the anesthesiologists on this forum prefer AA's to CRNA's. But I dont know if this is an accurate representation of anesthesiologists nationwide. More importantly you have to keep in mind what the community, hospitals and surgeons prefer.

 

[The_Sensei]

More importantly you have to keep in mind what the community, hospitals and surgeons prefer.

AAs

 

[jjeff]

Thanks to all that responded. I think that the AA route would be the quickest route so that I could be doing anesthesia in the shortest amount of time. It really doesn't matter if I am working for an Anesthesiologist or as one. I put my full efforts into what I do and have no ego problems. JWK do you really think that the AA profession will eventually come to the majority of the states within say 10 years or will it take longer?

 

[AUdacious]

http://www.anesthetist.org/

 

[jwk]

Thanks to all that responded. I think that the AA route would be the quickest route so that I could be doing anesthesia in the shortest amount of time. It really doesn't matter if I am working for an Anesthesiologist or as one. I put my full efforts into what I do and have no ego problems. JWK do you really think that the AA profession will eventually come to the majority of the states within say 10 years or will it take longer?

It's a good goal to have - we'll just have to see what happens. The number of states with AA's will certainly continue to grow year by year.