Free Essay About Attention: Admissions Committee

Prior to taking my first nursing course in college, I set a goal to one day become a nurse anesthetist. This has been an educational and professional goal ever since I shadowed a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) prior to applying to nursing school. My desire to become a CRNA has increased exponentially since gaining experience in the critical care nursing field. I strive to take on the challenge, knowledge, and responsibility of advancing my professional career to the highest level of nursing. CRNAs have the responsibility of providing safe anesthesia in the operating room and communicating effectively with the patient and family prior to surgery and following surgery. Nurse anesthesia provides the rare opportunity of allowing a CRNA to work in a variety of facilities and environments, and enabling the CRNA to apply their knowledge and skill of safe, effective anesthesia care. If I am allowed the honored opportunity to become a CRNA, I plan to eventually take my knowledge and apply it to the research field to further advance the practice of anesthesia. If a mentor program is established as suggested in the Autumn 2010 newsletter, I would strive to one day become a mentor for future students of nurse anesthesia.
I retain multiple qualities that would allow me to succeed in your graduate anesthesia program and become a high quality nurse anesthetist. I am extremely motivated and extremely eager to advance my knowledge to the esteemed position of a nurse anesthetist. My motivation can be described by taking on the challenge to enter St. Joseph Hospital’s Cardiothoracic Vascular Unit (CTVU) directly after graduating with my ADN at the age of twenty-one. I used my motivation to quickly learn the knowledge needed to ensure my patients’ safety and to begin their recover from surgery. Another quality that would allow me to succeed as a CRNA is my capacity for leadership. My quality of leadership can best be noted when I researched our hospital’s policy on central line placement and maintenance to ensure it met standards of evidence based practice. Following this process, I then composed an educational poster to educate the staff on the importance of current techniques for central line insertion and maintenance in prevention of central line infections.
Effective communication skills with staff and family are qualities I take personal pride in possessing. Exceptional communication is a required quality needed to succeed at any levels of nursing, especially as a CRNA. This is one of the important reasons why I was nominated for the Daisy Award in 2009. The final quality necessary to become a competent CRNA is confidence. Over the past 2.5 years I have developed enough confidence and respect to care for some of the most critical patients in CTVU. This confidence has allowed me to care for a patient with a Ventricle Assist Device, CVVHD, and multiple vasoactive drugs to patients with an Intra Aortic Balloon Pump and multiple vasoactive drug support. This confidence allows me to care for critical patients and to communicate questions and concerns to other professionals to increase my knowledge.
My education started with the ADN program at Bluegrass Community Technical College where I finished with a 3.3 GPA. In April 2011, after a year of critical care nursing, I enrolled at Indiana Wesleyan University where I received my Bachelor of Science in Nursing. I completed my BSN degree with a 3.93 GPA raising my cumulative GPA to above 3.5 and graduating with Cum Laude honors. My BSN degree illustrates my current academic standing and motivation to further my education. My increase in GPA accurately reflects the growth in maturity I have gained through work and life experiences since receiving my ADN.
In addition to my educational and professional accomplishments, I plan to achieve several goals to properly prepare for the nurse anesthesia education program. I currently am in the process of registering for an under graduate statistics course to meet requirements for graduate school. To advance my knowledge of pharmacology and physiology and to prepare for the program interview, if chosen, I am currently studying the textbook Basic and Clinical Pharmacology and have purchased Pharmacology and Physiology in Anesthetic Practice. In addition to studying the effects of drugs down to the cellular level, I also have shadowed a UC nurse anesthetist graduate within the past two months. Lastly, I have applied for the CCRN certification and plan to have taken the test prior to the application deadline.
During the application process I noticed that I met all the requirements except scoring a 4.5 on the analytical part of the GRE. Had life circumstances been different I know I would have properly prepared for the analytical part of the GRE. With preparation I know I would have scored above a 4.5 to more accurately reflect my current educational level.
The extraordinary challenge of becoming a CRNA is one that I am prepared to embark upon. It would be a great accomplishment and honor to attend University of Cincinnati’s nurse anesthesia education program. If given the esteemed honor of attending one of the best anesthesia programs in the nation, I believe I can successfully graduate and become a high quality CRNA. My professional and academic experience has helped prepare me to succeed at the graduate level.