Josette Salas, RN BSNJosette Salas is an RN from California. She has worked as a traveling nurse in some of the busiest Medical Centers on the West Coast including UCLA, USC University Hospital, Cedars Sinai and others. Her specialties includes Cardiothoracic ICU and Neuro/Trauma intensive care. She comes to Nurse Anesthesia School with a lot of great preparation and motivation.
Becoming a CRNA was all I ever could think about. I knew this was for me in my last semester of nursing school back in 1998. I went into critical care and enrolled for my BSN straight out of nursing school so that I could fulfill my dream of becoming a Nurse Anesthetist.
I thought I would get right into school. Here it is now 2005 and I am just in my first year of graduate school. I could not believe how extremely competitive it was to get in. I applied 2 years in a row to the CA Kaiser program and nothing happened there. I decided that if I wanted to become a CRNA badly enough I would have to sacrifice and make a move.
Here I am now in Buffalo NY, freezing but I love the program at the University of Buffalo. We have a great class and I am excited just to have made it this far. I must say that school is not easy. It can be very stressful and crazy at times. What helps is to have study groups and your friends in the program.
I remember when I got the phone call from the Program Director at Buffalo. I had been accepted and I couldn’t believe it. This was a year before I would start school. It is nice to have a little time; my husband is a traveling nurse so we get by on what he makes and we could move together here to New York. There are students that do work but I am extremely fortunate to not have to. I don’t know if I could do this without my husbands help.
You really need to think about your goals in life when making a commitment to doing something like this. Saving money, not having a car payment or bills and being basically debt free is the best preparation. I have started clinicals this semester with observation days and I know this is something that I can do. I am SO EXCITED.
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This site looks promising. I am very interested in reading about your experiences, so keep it coming.
Thanks Josette,
Your comments are very encouraging, more so because I to want to study my MSN anesthesia myself on the East coast in the lovely freezing winters. I currently study in a climate of warm balmy winters of 77F*, just South of the Tropic of Cancer. The price we pay for knowledge!!!
Thankyou for your insights
James Ukena
RN Undergraduate
Central Queenland University
Queensland Australia
Hi Josette,
I am an Associate Degree prepared RN. I have been a nurse for 11 years. I am from Buffalo but have been traveling for the last 6 years. I returned to Buffalo to attend the RN to BSN program starting this fall (2008). I am also looking for a full-time position in an ICU since the bulk of my experience is ER. I hope that being at UB for undergraduate school will give me an advantage at being accepted to the CRNA program once I am done with my BSN. I plan to make myself known in the department and show how enthusiastic I am about becoming a CRNA. I knew for years that is what I wanted to do however I had the need to experience travel nursing before committing to such a rigorous program. I plan to live back at home with my Mother, which helps as far as the financial aspect of it. Is there anything you can suggest that would increase my chances of getting in to the program? I was also wondering if there was a lot of students in your class from NY. I assume you are now a CRNA. Where are you working? Is it all you thought it would be? Thank you in advance and best wishes for continued success in all you do.
Josette is a CRNA in a Midwestern University Teaching Hospital and loving it. I will pass along your message to her.
DG
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