CRNA Board Preparation

When you are in the CRNA program and the "finish line" appears closer than ever, another stress starts to creep on. BOARDS! All your mentors, family and professors can keep telling you that "you are going to do just fine" (and yes you will do fine) but it is difficult to stay calm. Good preparation and planning is the key to success. So how do you prepare? Here are some tips that helped me get through.

1) Timing

Getting your appointment for your exam is a difficult decision to make. "I didn't get time to study during clinicals", "I am not ready" etc are all the questions that may deter you from taking that step. Nevertheless, you NEED to do it. People tend to do better with deadlines and that little sense of nervousness will help you study better. If you go in without a set date for the exam you will more likely procrastinate (I did :) ). Also, regardless of the date you are taking the exam, there is always a topic that can be prepared better. That should not be the reason to delay your exam since we all have topic that are difficult to understand. So, make that appointment and don't change it because you feel unprepared. 

2) Studying 

It is ideal to study throughout the program however, we all know it is unrealistic. Some clinical sites have difficult rotations, exhaustion, and family matters can all play a role in limiting your study hours. It is important to set realistic study hour goals based on clinical sites. For example, 8 hour days may allow you 2 hours of studying whereas 12 hour clinical days allow you only 1. Use them appropriately. 

3) Topics

I know everyone's learning styles and habits are unique to themselves. So, know yourself. Don't follow the group. Choosing topic to study may work better if you have something to relate to. Discuss a topic with your clinical preceptor, relate it with your case, or study about your case a day prior. Studying and relating it to real-life situation is a great way to retain information. 

4) Review Course

There are so many review courses out there that may make it almost overwhelming to choose from. Every one of them have positives and negatives that again relate to your personal learning habits. I learn better from lectures and visual information so Valley review course worked better. However, if you are interested in how the boards are set-up, then Prodigy or Apex (or others) may be ideal. 

5) Relax

Most important one for the last. Relaxation and sleep are often forgotten as a CRNA student but are key to your success. I was so exhausted after two weeks of post graduation studying that I was having a great deal of trouble retaining information. You don't want to go in tired. Eat well before the exam and drink enough water. I had to change the environment I studied in to keep it stimulating. 

At the end, remember you made it through the difficult part that is the school and this is really the easiest portion of CRNA program. Feel free to comment or email any specific questions you may have. Wish you all good luck! 

Apex Anesthesia Review Course

I have recently been approached to give my opinion on a new SRNA board review website Apex Anesthesia Review (www.apexanesthesia.com) that is available now. Before I begin, in a  recent comment, it was mentioned that they feel "A Student CRNA blog" introduces a lot of new "products". I am not sure if they were saying its a good thing or bad. The information presented about the mentioned courses are  mainly introduction to the products without any promotion or rejection of their effectiveness. Everyone has different learning styles so the idea of me discussing these is to allow an insight into the courses that can help you all determine if they meet your learning needs or not. Regardless, I wanted to start off by saying that the products that I discuss on my blog do not provide me with any monetary compensation. In fact, I look for terms that allow me to keep a neutral, unbiased stand towards the product. Thanks to the developers of Apex Anesthesia Review Course, Kevin Baker CRNA and Daniel Frasca CRNA, DNAP, I have had the opportunity to personally browse their website courses and get an insight on how it works.

Apex Anesthesia Review is an online SRNA review course that provides students with a comprehensive review including multiple tutorials and question banks on topics tested on NBCRNA board exam. The topics are divided into 9 units along with review exams and national certification practice exams. Student subscriptions allow unlimited access to all these courses from your computers and tablets. Smartphones may also be used to access review exams and full length practice board exams. Student course progress is tracked and communicated between all compatible platform allowing easy transition from computer to ipad. The courses are created with in-depth details of the anesthesia topics and are supported by necessary diagrams and illustrations. Questions have been formatted similar to the NBCRNA boards such as multiple selection, drag and drop, illustration questions, and calculations. Apex courses are stored in the cloud and are updated without the need for students to get software update.

Pricing is based on a subscription model and a group rates are available for groups larger than 10. Students are also able to contact the CRNAs who created this program for personalized help if needed. According to the developers, they currently have a 100% pass rate. However, if a student fails, they provide help to create a customized plan and also provide a full refund if the student can't pass the boards after 3 attempts.
Browsing through Apex website, there were some things that I think SRNAs will definitely benefit from and some I had to think over a bit. Initially,from a student's perspective, I was worried about it not being available offline. However, I ended up favoring this change once I compared it with downloadable review programs. It allows students to access courses from almost anywhere and on any device since there is no program to download. All you do is login and pick up where you left off. Another tool that I really like is the "index" section which provides a straight forward, to the point list of very specific topics that are easily accessible with just a click.

Overall, Apex anesthesia seems to be a well organized and to-the-point review course website for SRNAs (and CRNAs in the near future). Hopefully my  brief introduction to the website provides all anesthesia folks with enough information to see if Apex anesthesia is the way for you to study for your boards and earn those four letters behind your name...C.R.N.A.

Feel free to help out fellow SRNAs by commenting below if you would like to share your personal experience with the Apex course. Also, you can contact this developers at this link if you have any more specific questions. http://www.apexanesthesia.com/contact_apex/

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Thanks again for reading!

Quarter 1 is done!! - Anatomy Debriefing.

First quarter is over!! Its been a rough, yet fun, 10 weeks. First Anatomy, then biophysics and finally biochemistry. All are over!
But my brain still feels like its in high gear. I have only been out for a day and am bored. So, I went to school today again (just to discuss my finances actually...which by the way are outrageous!). Met a professor from next quarter on my way to lab. Got some motivation and tips which revved up my brain even more. I think I have forgotten how to relax anymore and 10 days are going to too long of a break.

So, I thought in this time, I can share some experiences about classes, books I used etc.

Anatomy...was a monster. So so much information and so little time. Never thought it would be this detailed. There wasn't even time to memorize mnemonics anymore. But, its possible. Because, if I can do it, anyone can do it...if you put enough time in it. Lab was most important but was more efficient if you know theory really well. I was told to preview theory before class, pay attention during class and then review it after class. It worked for first two weeks may be then my mind just went "Screw it" and couldn't keep up anymore. Sleep was short and so was my frustration index and that's when you go to meet your instructors. Honestly, I really liked my anatomy instructors who made this course a lot easier than I thought. That makes a huge difference. Another thing that I felt really helped me was recording lectures. There is so much that is thrown at you that its easy to miss it (and for days that you can't stay awake in class).
As far as the books, I was told to buy three and I bought em all. Some of them were greatly useful and some were unnecessary expenses. Netter, which is a great colored atlas is one of my favorite. It shows different relationships mentioned in lectures and has a nice index making it easier to look through. The only thing I didn't like was that its not the real stuff. Sometimes I couldn't translate drawings into real cadavers. But, still this book is definitely needed and I am for sure keeping mine.

Rohen was another atlas that I used and was on my recommended books list. It does have real cadaveric pictures and was a great tool to study from right before test. The thing I didn't like about this book was its index. It is so hard to find stuff in it and being my "frustration index" was so low, it did piss me off a few times.
Overall, its a decent book to look through. Thumbs up for this one too.

I didn't really use dissectors before lab but was told by people who did that it really helped them understand muscle relationship better. So, you might want to give it a shot!

The Anatomy concepts book was really a waste of money. Never really used it. For you it may be different if professors aren't doing a good job filling their lectures. If I knew, probably wouldn't have bought this one.

I have links for all the books for amazon if you need to buy them. Hope this helped!