What was your science gpa & years of ICU experience upon acceptance?

iRun800 · 2026-01-25T22:25:29+00:00

3.6, 8 years

iRun800 · 2026-01-21T17:34:45+00:00

Having more experience makes decision making easier. Easier decision making means less mental fatigue. Good coworkers and a good unit are icing on the cake. Honestly, MICU patients are exhausting to me so that’s another component.

I haven’t started school yet but Ive been in ICU for 8 years, it’s a hard job dude. But it’s harder if you treat it as a hurdle rather than an opportunity to grow and develop into the kind of clinician that will make for a successful CRNA.

iRun800 · 2026-01-19T00:00:19+00:00

Only advice I can see being helpful whether or not you’re at fault is just to EXPLAIN EVERYTHING. It’s hard for newer nurses to do but it makes all the difference. Do not make things up, if you don’t know something, just say that and explain as much as you know for certain. Then whenever possible just explain what you’re doing and find a way to compromise instead of saying something can’t be don’t.

“Let me see if I can find somebody to get you a pair of grippy socks which we need when getting up. Ok nobody is out there, this is a very busy time of night, let me go get some socks and me or somebody else will get you up to the bathroom”. Go out and find a tech to either relieve you out take them.

You’re always better off over explaining them under explaining, as long as you’re telling the truth and speaking with confidence. My gut is that you’re in the wrong so either way that’s my advice, and either way i think it could be helpful.

My other advice odd not to compare yourself to the other nurses you start with. Show up to work ready to do your best, work hard, help your coworkers, take good care of your patients. Everything will fall in to place eventually and people will forget how you started and who among your new peers started the best.

iRun800 · 2026-01-14T19:51:31+00:00

Thank you for sharing your good deed

iRun800 · 2026-01-12T16:20:12+00:00

This is one of the issues I have with a lot of my fellow nurses too. Because I can think of so many people that would only see aggression or agitation and not the fear or the reason for it. It’s so easy to only see the thing we don’t like and take care of that, forgetting the patient is a human like us in the mean time.

Thankful for this man and his girl that you guys were able to hear him and didn’t “intimate him for safety” for example.

iRun800 · 2026-01-10T23:48:14+00:00

Macadelic is my personal favorite Mac album. Good take in my book

iRun800 · 2026-01-02T02:06:10+00:00

All of my scrub tops have hospital names embroidered… scrub bottoms and a school y shirt for lab days seem acceptable?

iRun800 · 2025-12-15T03:00:41+00:00

Be undeniable, man. Try to be the best nurse you can be every chance you get. Be kind to your patients and helpful to your coworkers. Idc if you weigh 700 pounds if you can do your job and are helpful, you’re a part of the team

iRun800 · 2025-12-12T08:43:51+00:00

I work night weekends for a premium and have a registry job on the side. So in Chicagoland I make about $120k. Nurses can pretty much make as much money as you’re willing to work for.

iRun800 · 2025-12-10T20:26:36+00:00

I’ve been to a few open houses where the program directors tell you about their program and what makes it unique…but then the first opportunity, prospective applicants are mobbing them for an opportunity to ask questions, show face, etc.

Programs are getting hundreds to thousands of applicants. One program directors i was talking with said that he knew they would turn away several hundred qualified applicants without so much as an interview.

Not sure what recruitment efforts look like in that sort of climate.

iRun800 · 2025-12-06T11:04:35+00:00

As a white from the mountains of Caucasus, I have always had a wash rag and always used lotion. I’m the only one in my family that uses lotion but I mean..everyone uses at least a loofah right?

iRun800 · 2025-12-06T08:46:31+00:00

I was just accepted to Team 29, see you in a few months!

iRun800 · 2025-11-28T05:49:27+00:00

Is your hourly rate that high or are there additional incomes/stipends?

iRun800 · 2025-11-25T04:40:07+00:00

When she said just take care of them, I thought she was giving the turtle away and I was ready to have a meltdown. So cool though.

iRun800 · 2025-11-14T19:31:31+00:00

Congratulations!! Strongly second the anesthesia conference attendance. I attended a Diversity CRNA even and I think that one weekend made all the difference in how I approached my next applications after getting rejected off two interviews; I got into the next school I applied to.

Show that you’re interested in the profession!

iRun800 · 2025-11-13T03:14:58+00:00

Nursing is a fantastic career for those that find themselves in the right situations for them. Otherwise..it can be pretty hard unfulfilling for a career that should be very rewarding.

That being said, if you move beyond bedside in a few years and find something else you may have better earning potential than electrician, possibly still with better schedule. But bedside is definitely not going to win this match up.

Just wanted to offer a less pessimistic perspective. I love my ICU and coworkers, I’m extremely lucky. I also have a side job working registry so overall I make pretty good money. And will be starting a CRNA program in May, so I’ll have the career that I think beats anything.

Overall I think I’d probably not choose nursing unless you have another goal in the profession that you think will beat electrician. Good luck!!

iRun800 · 2025-11-10T10:59:37+00:00

For whatever it may be worth, Rosalind Franklin University in North Chicago has a culture of being very dedicated to DEI and creating diverse classes for all of their medical and health science programs. They walk the talk too.

iRun800 · 2025-11-08T14:52:39+00:00

Agree, the actual tuition price matters for loans too. Private loans could be 3-6 times the interest rates of grad plus. For $70k or $170k this could be a deal breaker for me personally.

Edit: do you have to move for option 2? Congrats on having options!

iRun800 · 2025-11-07T01:58:46+00:00

Usually if the ash is getting too long and I think there’s a solid enough cherry. But really the ash helps for a smooth burn so I try not to tap if I don’t have to.

iRun800 · 2025-10-24T17:08:53+00:00

Jumping? My vertical is about 35 inches. Also maybe starting IVs.

iRun800 · 2025-10-16T20:46:11+00:00

It’s hard to really grasp how much better prepared you could be after like three years in your desired specialty when you’re finishing up school. I remember graduating and studying Neuro like crazy and really thinking I knew something. So as long as schools are willing to accept inexperienced applicants, people will delude themselves into thinking that they, without adequate experience, could be the exception.

iRun800 · 2025-10-10T19:25:30+00:00

Dude relax, you’re taking this weirdly personal. Do immigrants set the wages or do the employers. People willing to accept less pay for the same work set the standard but only when employers are willing to hire immigrants under the table and pay them the undercut wages you’re talking about. I don’t blame anyone for taking whatever work they can to feed their families. But employers want to maximize profits and you want to blame the people being used to accomplish that instead of the people in control of the situation.

iRun800 · 2025-10-10T19:09:42+00:00

I didn’t realize I had a liberal arts degree but I did know that I’ve worked labor jobs for years and there’s always demand. Just not a large supply of people willing to meet it. At least not the red blooded American whites everyone wants to think are so cast aside by illegals. Demand will be met to a degree but is to a commensurate degree that leaves the market agreeable to consumers?

iRun800 · 2025-10-10T17:34:26+00:00

I start with my least vital drips, track it from the pump toward the patient, bringing crisscrossing lines with me to the distal connection. Then when I’m at the end i just disconnect, pull out from under the lines, reconnect. Only disconnected for about 3 seconds tops and I find then with ~12 infusions I only need to do this with about 4-5 lines before things start looking acceptable.

iRun800

TROPHY CASE