So You Want to Be a CRNA? Let’s Talk Reality, Rejection, and Readiness (With Jenny Finnell)

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Welcome to Club Nurse. I'm Colton Lord, your host. By you being here today, it shows me that you are someone who wants to learn, Grow, laugh, connect, and just let your emotions flow. We are here to share real stories and hear real-life experiences from real people. You are not alone in this, and Club Nurse is here to show you that. Don't forget to follow the show and share today's episode with someone you love. Now let's dive into today's conversation.

Welcome back to Club Nurse, everybody. My name is Colton Lord, your host of this podcast. Thank you for coming back this week and to tuning in and listening. Uh, I have somebody here with me today that's gonna really provide you with Some really, really great insight. Celebrating CRNA Week, I'm super excited to introduce Jenny Finnell, who is a practicing certified registered nurse anesthetist with more than 12 years of anesthesia experience. She began her nursing career in the adult MICU, started her anesthesia career in adult open heart anesthesia, and now works in pediatric anesthesia. This background gives her a strong understanding of both the clinical demands and the emotional challenges that aspiring CRNAs often face. Inspired by her love for the profession and her desire to help others succeed, Jenny founded CRNA School Prep Academy after receiving many messages from nurses seeking guidance. She recognized that nurses needed more than information. They needed strategy, education, mentorship, and support. CSPA was created to meet that need and to serve as a trusted and encouraging community for every nurse working toward a CRNA career. Jenny is also the founder of TeachRN, an open marketplace that allows nurses to offer peer-to-peer support services. TeachRN was built to help nurses connect, grow, and find career fulfillment at every stage of their journey. Outside of work, Jenny is a proud mom of 5 and has been married to her college sweetheart for more than 15 years. She enjoys working out, traveling with her family, and relaxing at home. She never turns down tacos or a good glass of red wine. At her core, she values connection, growth, and helping others believe in what is possible. So without further ado, Jenny Finnell, thank you so much for being here.

Thank you, Colton. I appreciate being here. This is exciting to be on the show today.

Yeah. Yeah. So we're gonna, we're here to celebrate CRNA Week, um, kind of just to give people, I think, um, becoming a CRNA, I feel like from, from my experience anyway in nursing school, I feel like this was always what, you know, many nursing students have that idea of like, oh, I'm gonna, you know, I wanna go to CRNA school. So this is my goal, this is my dream. And then I think more times than not, a lot of people kind of get into nursing and then they really, you know, I'm sure the percentage is a lot smaller of people who actually go and do CRNA school. I think a lot of people, um, again, from my experience, it's the financial reward of being a CRNA and kind of being able to be like an advanced provider in that sense as to why people wanna do it. But then I think once people understand kind of the rigor of the schooling and how difficult it is, it maybe scares a lot of people away. So do you wanna kind of just like maybe talk about that first and foremost of like what inspired you to get into CRNA school and what does it really mean to be qualified to get into a CRNA program? I mean, we all know that the grades matter, Your test scores, all that, really, we understand that that matters, but what beyond that is what makes you qualified for a CRNA program?

Yeah, sure. So a little bit about kind of what got me interested initially. Well, I guess it kind of started from a young age. I was that weirdo who liked to watch Discovery Health, and they had surgery on TV back then, and I used to watch those and just was so fascinated. And back then, I had no idea that nurses were even probably in the OR because I was, I was just a child. But as I kind of progressed, I spent every summer— thanks, Dad— volunteering at the hospital because I knew I wanted to be in healthcare, but I didn't know what. And so that kind of got me some further exposure. However, I didn't actually meet a CRNA until I was a senior in high school, and my friend's father's friend knew that I was, you know, interested in being in healthcare and invited me to the OR to shadow him as an OR nurse. It was back then that I saw someone at the head of the bed and discovered that was a nurse behind the head of the bed and just thought that was the coolest thing ever. And Even though then that's not when I actually decided I wanted to be a CRNA. It wasn't until I was in nursing school and a couple subjects that really, really, even though they were difficult for me, I really enjoyed was pharmacology and pathophysiology. And that always kind of stuck with me. And so I knew I'd find something fulfilling in nursing that really challenged my depth of knowledge in those 2 realms. So critical care nursing seemed right up that alley. And then I always never forgot the fact that anesthesia was just the coolest thing ever. I liked surgery. I liked the idea of being able to keep someone safe through really critical aspects of surgery. So I think it was a combination of both the love and interest in pathophysiology, pharmacology, along with the surgical procedure itself that really got me to pursue this career path. But like many, I had doubts too. So that's— we can get into that. But as far as breaking down, you know, the main qualities or the buckets, I would call them, to really pursue this career path successfully, I think number one is kind of having what I just spoke to, that passion, that desire to know that this is going to be a career path that's going to be fulfilling. So seeing them in action by job shadowing, really researching what is a day in the life of a CRNA, what's a good day, what's a bad day, you know, is that really a good fit for me? Would I find this interesting and intriguing to go to work every day? Because outside of the money, you have to actually like the work you're doing to find fulfillment. So that's probably number one. Number 2 is, you know, surrounding yourself with others who are on the same trajectory, meaning finding other nurses who are also interested in this career path and making it, you know, a commitment to each other to help each other out. And that's also why I'm a firm believer of community, right? Surround yourself with a supportive community, friends, family who will, who will be your cheerleaders throughout this journey. And then really the third thing is really diving deep into the weeds of, you know, the prerequisites, all the requirements, and, and then, you know, where do you fall in that range? Even if you're not the perfect, you know, perfect, uh, candidate, how do you highlight the strengths you do have? So that's, that's kind of the second or the, the third piece is kind of tailoring your application to highlight your own strengths.

Okay, gotcha. Do you, so do you remember, I mean, 'cause it's been quite a while, right, since you have, uh, went to CRNA school, is it much different now?

Versus then?

Do you remember how many schools you applied to? Were you feeling a lot of doubt or were you kind of— did you kind of like whenever you were applying, did you already know kind of what you needed to do or did you have any mentors to kind of guide you down the path to get there?

Yeah. So, I am getting kind of old here, but back I graduated, I started working as a nurse in 2009. I was on the 5-year plan because I got actually rejected from the College of Nursing the first time I applied. So, yeah, I mean, hey, you guys got to make do with what you got, right? So that was when I graduated, 2009, and went straight to the medical ICU. I think a big key thing that I identified early on that which has always stuck with me, which is why I'm really passionate about providing the same type of access to other aspiring CRNAs, is I was really fortunate enough to have those, those peers that I kind of talked about who were also pursuing CRNA. We stuck together, we, we studied together, we interviewed together, we reviewed each other's applications together. Um, and I also knew some current students in a couple of local programs. Those few pieces right there really gave me and my, my, my peers a pretty big leg up because we kind of knew how to prepare, um, effectively and also how to fine-tune our requirements. That being said, I did get rejected from the, uh, from, uh, nurse anesthesia school as well. The statistics, uh, is about 12% of people who apply get in.

So, Mm-hmm.

the vast majority of applicants, especially in the first cycle, do tend to get rejected. I'm not trying to discourage you, but just trying to paint a realistic picture that no doesn't mean never. It just means not yet. You have to be willing to, you know, be persistent at this career path. But I applied to 3— well, I should say I applied to 2 schools officially. The 3rd school I was going to apply to, I actually didn't score good enough on my GRE, and I got laughed at on the phone that if you can't get the GRE score that we require, which is a 300 minimum, you shouldn't even bother applying here. And that hurt. That hurt. And I was like, ouch. I was like, okay, well, and I got myself a tutor and I retook the GRE and got a, I went from a 298 to a 311 after some, uh, pretty solid tutoring.

Yeah.

And then I, I then, but then the next program I applied to, I got in. So I never even applied to that third school who laughed at me. So I'm kind of, kind of glad it worked out that way.

Yeah.

Um, but yeah, so I think the big thing is to just don't worry about being perfect. Bring your authentic self, who you are. But, you know, do your due diligence and be prepared, you know? So, that's kind of my journey in a nutshell.

Gotcha. And so, and with that journey, do you have any, like, do any come to mind, any, like, misconceptions of what people have as to what these, you know, what they're looking for in these applicants as people are applying?

Yeah. And I think actually I forgot you asked me a question as far as what has really changed. I mean, the big thing too is that, you know, it's becoming a DNP program versus when I went, it was a master's program. You still go from a BSN to a DNP. You don't have to get your master's and then your DNP. You know, it's a bachelor's to a DNP bridge program. The biggest piece is that schooling itself, the curriculum really hasn't changed from that transition other than they tacked on a 9-month DNP project where you actually do, you know, research and write papers on that research and things of that nature. So, that's the biggest difference in the schooling. I think the biggest danger is that people make assumptions. Right. Or they read into verbiage on their website, like on an individual basis, or which they like, oh, okay, it's on an individual basis that I have ER experience, but that's okay. And anything that says on an individual basis or recommended, recommend means you should do it.

Yeah.

And on an individual basis, it means not preferred. So those are the key things that if you're like, oh, I'll be okay, keep in mind it's really competitive. So if you're doing a route that's less than ideal or desirable, you're more than likely not going to be competitive enough. Um, so those are the two. That's a big thing. The other thing is the prerequisite requirements, I think, get looked into too late in the game.

Mm-hmm.

Um, as far as, oh my gosh, I never had chemistry as a nursing student. It wasn't even required. I didn't, I didn't think that this next phase of my career would require that. Or maybe they only have intro to chem versus Chem 1 and Chem 2, or maybe they never had a statistics course and maybe that's required. So looking into prerequisite requirements is really, really key early on, just because give yourself time. Um, you don't want to make a mistake Exactly. Or take 3 courses and end up getting Cs in them all because you are working full-time and taking, you know, way too many courses at once and studying for the CCRN, all the things. And then unfortunately, once you get a, a grade that's not desirable, especially if it's a current grade, it hinders your chances even more.

Gotcha. What was— I mean, I'm curious, what was your, uh, like, the— from the transition to bedside nursing to being a CRNA, What, like, what was the biggest, like, change for you that maybe you weren't anticipating? Like, do you, do any come to mind of like what, like what was really different for you? Or, um, were you kind of like, when you got there, you were kind of like, yeah, this is what I was expecting.

Well, your training does a great job at really kind of preparing you for that transition. So nothing's really surprising. But what I will say, going from where I was as a medical ICU nurse to where I was even on day 1 as a CRNA, for example, I think the big thing for me was like, oh my gosh, I'm really in this room by myself. I am at the head of the bed. There's no one else in here with me.

Yeah.

You know, cuz even as a student, when you're in training, you typically always have a CRNA. If they're not in the room, they're, they're nearby, they're a text message away. And now granted, as a CRNA, you also have your colleagues, your attending, so you're never, you always are just, again, a phone call away from receiving support. You also lean on heavily on your, your operating room nurses as well as your surgeon and surgeons and things of that nature. But I think that was kind of. I don't know. It made me feel it was a it's a big responsibility. Let's put it that way. To be at the head of the bed and to be the one who can give feedback to the surgeon—that's a that's a very big responsibility. You have to be very willing to communicate. You ha that's a very vital piece of the operation. You know, sometimes you don't always know, right? But you have to be willing and resourceful and figure out what's the best you know optionalities for the patient to to get them through that procedure safely. So finding your voice, I think, is a big thing, and that was something that. I'm more of a meek and mild person just in general. My nature is to be an introvert. I'm not very outspoken. I tend to just like being quiet.

Yeah.

I enjoy listening more than I do talking. Let's put it that way. So that was something that I had to get acclimated to, was using my voice and using my own authority in my voice as well, and being and demanding when you want something done from either the surgeon or, you know, as anesthetic Uh, concern.

So, and where do you, where did you find that confidence? Was this something that you, like a muscle you really had to build, or like where, where do you finally find that? Uh, like did you have any coaching on that? Were you kind of watching your, like, you know, mentors, or is it just like when you're in it and you're, you're in a situation, you just have to find it, you know, because it's just, you know, you have somebody's life in your hands there. How did you, uh, find that?

I think for me, of course, during training, again, yes, you definitely look up to the CRNAs that mentor you and as your preceptor in clinical. Your current— your RNAs, right? Your class that you get really close with during your program. But that being said, I think for me, what I took away from my training and I still practice today is as long as you have a rational reason as to why you want something, why you're asking someone for something, why you're saying no to something, if you know why, you can back up yourself all day long and they have to at least consider it. It doesn't mean you're right.

Right.

But if you have a rationale behind what you're thinking, like, hey, I think we need to consider this and this is why, or, hey, I'm gonna change from this type to this type of anesthetic and here's why. As long as you have the why, and you can start practicing this technique in the ICU, why are you titrating that drip? Why is this patient being ordered this medication? Why are you going up on the ventilator settings? If you understand the why, It'll give you a lot more leverage when you are being kind of demanding or insisting upon, or if you're advocating for your patient. You can't just say, because so-and-so told me so, or because this is what I was trained to do, or this is because this is what I think is best. Thinking means you're not confident. You have to own it and know why. So I think that's kind of where I found my voice was just being true to my why and understanding the process as far as how I got to that rationale.

Yeah, I think that makes total sense. And that's kind of what you're saying, even just working at the bedside as a nurse, it makes you, because as soon as you're saying that, I'm like, that's right. Like, I, you feel that confidence whenever you know why something's happening versus like when there's chaos ensuing and all these things are happening. And especially when you're like a new nurse and you're like, oh my God, like this is so overwhelming versus when you have a little bit of experience and you understand why everything is happening, you're not as panicky. You know, I did a very little stint in the ICU. This was, I was considering a CRNA route at one point in my career. Went to the ICU. I did not like it. But I remember like the, you know, I've done mostly ER, but I remember like doing the rounds in the ICU, which we did not— obviously we don't have in the ER. I remember being a new ICU nurse and like, you know, I would be silent. I didn't have anything to say during those rounds because I was like, why? Like, they, you know, I'm going to sound so silly. Like, they're not going to respect anything that I say. But then the more you're there and the more you kind of get to know the team and you understand like what they're looking for from you, you start to speak up. And then when they, when they start to value what you're saying, it does feel good. You're like, oh, like I do have something valuable to give to this team. to help with the patient's outcome, to make this whole entire process a little bit easier. So I think that's a really, really great point that you make there.

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As far as I think a lot of people, a lot of nurses, Really have that feeling of maybe like that imposter syndrome or comparing themselves to others. So how do comparison and imposter feelings hold nurses back in your opinion?

Yeah, I think at the root cause of imposter syndrome kind of comes from the lack of confidence piece, right?

Well, insecurity.

Exactly. And if you think about it, how can you ever be confident in something you've never done before? Something that you're like, wow, this is uncharted territory. I have no idea. I think you have to be willing to accept the fact that you may fail. And that doesn't mean, it doesn't mean it's not possible for you. It doesn't mean you're not worthy or not capable. It is just part of the learning process is to make the, I call them mustakes, right? Because you must make them. Yeah, that's true. And I think kind of even back to like being the scientist at the bedside, asking why, why was I not successful? Why is this patient, you know, having these new symptoms? Asking questions is one of the best ways to improve on yourself and self-reflecting. Like maybe if you had a bad interview, instead of saying, oh, or they were just jerks, right? Could you present yourself better? Is there something that you could actually work on? So being willing to inwardly reflect on maybe I didn't show up the way I should have. Maybe I can work on my communication skills. Maybe I can work on my presentation. You know, maybe they worried about a grade that I wasn't willing to take an extra course to make up for it. Maybe I should do that. Uh, so the imposter syndrome, I think, holds a lot of people back from taking a chance on themselves. And I'll tell you right now, taking a chance on yourself is the best chance you will ever take. You know why? Because you want to be successful. You are internally wired that way. And I think as long as you can deal with a potential failure, and if you feel like you can't, if you feel like getting a rejection is going to shatter you, that needs to be addressed first.

Mm-hmm.

So addressing what would it mean if I got told no? What would that do to me? And if you're worried about what that would do to you internally, that would wreck you, that's step number 1 is to address why that would wreck you. And back in the day, I did a lot of coaching myself. And one of the things that used to drive me nuts, but it works really well, is when you think you have your why, say why again. And then when you— then say why again and why again until you get down to the very— And I'm telling you, when you find your true why, it'll make you very emotional. You will, you will be like, oh, I found it. And it's a lot of times, this is crazy, but like, this has always happened to me. It starts in your childhood, like literally childhood trauma. And it's not even like trauma, like I got hurt or abused. I'm not talking in those natures. I'm just talking about—

Just like how we interpret anything we interpret as trauma as kids. We carry that for sure.

Correct. And then you can start unraveling that piece and addressing it. It's so powerful. Things that you put these conceptions on as a child, you carry with you into an adult. And it's completely usually irrational, but it's just this embedded thing in your brain. So that, that's my advice to deal with imposter syndrome is get down to that root why and address that first.

Yeah. Yeah. I think, and yeah, kind of like we were saying, it really goes back to just, yeah, that, that insecurity. And it's not, not a bad thing to be insecure. You know, it's like we have those feelings for a reason. And again, it's really, it's a muscle. I mean, and the more I always like to say, like, I would rather do these things, and if CRNA school is your thing and you wanna do that and you're afraid of the failure, I would rather try it. And at least even if I really did fail and I couldn't get into a program or I went into the program and I failed out, at least you know you can go to sleep knowing you tried, right? Versus keeping yourself up at night thinking about, what if I had done it? What if I had tried? That's gonna go away once you've tried it. Or maybe even again, for people like me who thought this is the route I wanna go. I went to the ICU and I quickly was like, no, I don't, I don't want to be, I don't think CRNA bad enough, obviously, because I don't even wanna stay in the ICU for more than 6 months. So, I think like when you try those things though, you learn things about yourself. And it was quickly, I was like, I'm good. I'm gonna, I'm gonna go back to the ER. I don't, this is not the route for me. And looking back, I think that was, you know, that was a few years ago. I think that was a great decision for me. So, I like that you're saying that, just like put yourself out there and just try it, right? Because I mean, what, what do you have to lose at the end of the day? So talking kind of about how did you get into mentorship and doing things on social media and the CRNA, um, School Prep Academy, how did you get into, into that? Can you kind of talk to us about it exactly? Kind of if you can elaborate on what it really is for people.

Yeah, sure. So I actually never expected to be in this, in this role ever. I was a working CRNA, um, mom of 2 little kids, and I just hadn't been on social media since prior to grad school. So I back, I got back on social media, uh, uh, probably 2019, I would say, maybe even 2018, either way. I call myself Jenny CRNA and started getting a bunch of DMs from nurses asking for help. And I'm like, yeah, here, here's my cell phone. And then before I knew it, I had a bunch of people and I'm like, wow, this is, this is a lot. So I started a Facebook group so I could go live and answer questions and just make my time more effective and efficient. That grew by word of mouth to over 6,000 people in 6 months. And I was like, oh my gosh, there's a lot of you. And yeah, there's clearly a, a major need for more support. So long story short, I started reaching out to anybody and everybody I knew who could support these nurses, including faculty that I worked with and people that I knew. Ran admissions and things of that nature. And that's kind of how CRNA School Prep Academy evolved. We now have, you know, a dedicated team of faculty coaches with admissions experience who do all the coaching and all of our education. So that's kind of was always my vision, was to have this community be run by, by program faculty themselves who, who play a role in the admissions process. And I just, again, I had, I had peers, I had support, I had SRNAs who gave me a lot of insights that I knew helped me be successful. And I really wanted to be able to provide that for the nurses who were like, I don't know if I should do this anymore. I keep getting rejected. I don't know why. And the only feedback they'd get from the programs was it was a competitive application cycle. Try again. It's like, oh, you know, and then they would just reapply and keep getting rejected. And it's like, oh no, let's break this down a little bit deeper.

Figure out why it's happening. Yeah.

Yeah. And I want everyone who wants a seat at the table to have a seat at the table to to learn more about this profession. It's a great profession. It's so rewarding. I love being a CRNA. I did open heart for a while with adults. I've done adult OB. I've done outpatient surgery center where we did a lot of peripheral nerve blocks. I'm currently a pediatric CRNA. I've loved it all. Like, I just love this profession, and I just want nothing more than for nurses to safely explore this career path and do, do so in a way that allows them to grow professionally and thrive.

Gotcha. What is your kind of going back to like that whole, the whole idea of the why? Do you mind sharing what, like what your why is? Like why do you love so much being a CRNA? Like what keeps your kind of fire burning and like going into work every day to do your job?

Yeah.

I mean, this is kind of twofold. I think the reason also mentorship is so passionate to me is cuz I was that child who struggled. I had a learning disability. I always felt like I just wasn't smart enough compared to my peers and it took a number on me and I doubted myself and my ability. And had I not had, you know, friends and family who were like, no, Jenny, yes you can. I don't know if I'd be here today. I needed cheerleaders. I still need cheerleaders in my world. So I'm a very passionate mentor because it's impacted my own life from going from someone who doubted their ability to having people believe in me sometimes more than I believe in myself. But as far as being a CRNA, I really like being at the head of the bed, being that person who can assure them comfort, peace. I love having fun with my patients, like the kiddos I take care of. I tell jokes, knock-knock jokes. Or how do you make a tissue dance? You put a boogie in it.

Mm-hmm.

I just, I like being that person who can be relatable, who can answer questions, who can take away that fear, anxiety, to know that you're in good hands. I also really love the critical care knowledge aspect of it. I love pharmacology. I love pathophysiology. And then throw in surgical interventions on top of that. It's really fun. It's like a puzzle. And every patient, even if it's the same case, it's slightly different. The anesthetic is slightly different. It's just fun to just kind of play with what paints a beautiful picture, not only in the OR, but in postoperative care. So, I really like the art of anesthesia, of really creating a unique pathway for the patients we care for. I love the communication piece because even though your patient's asleep, you are actually communicating the entire time. When their heart rate picks up, they're saying, hey, Jenny, I hurt. I'm hurting. Help me.

Yeah.

Or when their blood pressure's low, they're saying, hey, either the surgeon's losing a lot of blood over here or you got me too deep. You know, so they are talking to you the whole time just through vital signs. And so, to me, that's fun. And so, yeah, I just, I like the anesthetic aspect of it. I like the surgical aspect of it. And it just, it's really rewarding to go to work every day and just feel like you make a difference for the patient you take care of.

Yeah. Yeah. You can see the passion when you talk about it and that you love what you do. Which I think especially and obviously in our profession is so, so important. You know, when I think a lot of us get into our daily job and maybe it can just become like mundane or we're just like trying to go through the motions or whatever, but it really makes a difference and an impact on the patient whenever they can tell that their nurse or whoever's caring for them really cares and genuinely wants the best outcome for them. And I think that most nurses, I can say that confidently, most nurses feel that way. I just mean, I think sometimes we— Maybe without meaning to, can kind of forget that part of it. And it really is such a— almost like you almost can't explain that feeling when the patient just looks at you like you've hung the moon, like they just trust you so much. And I think that that's something that we as nurses and really anyone in healthcare should hold that really close to our hearts because that's a big role to play in somebody's life that they actually— and they say that nurses are the number one trusted profession for so many years, and there's a reason for that, right? It's a big deal, kind of what we're doing out there. Kind of explain to us the process then. Like, when somebody, when somebody comes to you to go through this, through your academy or through your process, um, how are they finding you? At what point are they coming to you? Is this like they are like thinking of CRNA schools, that like they've applied and they've kind of failed? Is it both? Like, when are they coming to you?

Yeah, I think the ideal time to leverage CRNA School Prep Academy is as soon as you're 100% sure CRNA is a career path you want to pursue. That could be in nursing school, that could be after you've been an ICU nurse for a few years. So it doesn't— it's not really a right time as far as whether you're a new nurse or experienced nurse. It's just when you're fully committed to becoming a CRNA is when it's the right time to invest in CRNA School Prep Academy. Uh, that being said, I think the step number one is again getting involved in the community. That part is completely free. I've always felt very passionate offering access to support, and even those who can't pay. So we have a free community on Circle. I highly recommend if you're even considering this career path, go explore, be a fly on the wall, see what questions people are asking and what the feedback is. That'll help you kind of start your journey. And then if you shadow a CRNA and you're like, oh yes, I'm all in, this is definitely what I want to do, that's when you can start leveraging our educational resources. We do a lot of ICU education, pharmacology, pathophysiology, We also really uniquely do a lot of emotional intelligence training because that's something that faculty have said over and over and over again. That's a bigger predictor of success than just being book smart. So we do—

Yeah.

Yes. And it's true. That's that back to that imposter syndrome again. It'll get you even when you're in school. So focusing on you both personally and how you can grow professionally. So yes, I think whenever you're 100% sure, Our faculty coaches are here to help you, guide you. And yeah, CRNA School Prep Academy, just follow along and we post a lot of helpful advice too that will let you explore the career path.

Amazing. So it's like a little bit of educational, some coaching. It sounds like some therapy in there.

I mean, yeah, I love, yes, yes. And it's just that peer-to-peer connection too. Yeah. It's just having someone in your corner. It's so meaningful. And just surrounding yourself, like I said, that network, cuz you never know who you're gonna meet. It's funny, I actually was just in the operating room. It's never happened before, but we have 4 RRNAs from Midwestern, it's in Arizona, who all went through CSBA, all in the same class. And they're like, oh my gosh, it's Jenny. And it just, but they're like, yeah, I met my future classmate inside of CRNA School Prep Academy and now we're in the same cohort. So, and they're getting ready to graduate in a year, but they're like, we're like a total fan club over here. Everyone's at my hospital, you know, doing their pediatric rotation.

Yeah.

And it's, it's so, Yes. And so you never know who you're going to meet. You could meet your future classmate inside of CRNA School Prep Academy.

I love that. Just a couple things here. Is, is CRNA school as hard as they say?

It is hard. Most— not for the content per se. It's actually more due to the pace, the sheer volume. And so, yes. And so if you have ineffective or inefficient study techniques, it can really hurt you. And also time management But those are all things that, again, we, we help students kind of navigate, but that's something that needs to be thought about early on. It's, it's doable, right? We all, like, we could do it. It's very, you have to dedicate a lot of time, um, because it, it's a lot of information to get through in a very short period of time.

And how are, in your experience, how are people navigating this with, 'cause I know a lot of these programs, if not all of them, don't allow you to work after even maybe after the first semester. I, I've, I've seen different, different guidelines, but from what my understanding is, most of them don't allow you to work because of the volume. So how, In your experience, how have you seen people be able to do this if they don't have somebody with a supplemental income? I mean, that's obviously a barrier. And it might be a hard question to answer because I'm sure it's so individualized based on the person. But do you have an idea of how people do that? Is it mostly just loans? If you really want it, you just got to go that route or got to save money? I mean, there's probably a million answers to this.

Yeah. So this is actually one of the reasons why we routinely work with a financial advisor for our students. So we work with Thrivent Financial. They do a free webinar every single quarter to advise our students on how to prepare financially for CRNA school. We're getting ready to kind of revamp that now that the big beautiful bill is here, and that has created a whole slew of changes that now nurses need to probably be more, a little more proactive in their financial preparation for CRNA school.

Mm-hmm.

But you kind of mentioned it, between savings and loans, that's the majority of the way. If you're lucky enough to have a spouse who has an income during school, that's a really nice way to leverage. private loans, which you can get good interest rates on. I actually had better interest rates on my private loans than my government loans back when I was in school.

Oh yeah.

Like way better. But I had good credit prior to going to CRNA school, and I had a working husband who could co-sign, right? So like, that's a big piece of private loans. If you have no co-signer, that could be problematic. So there's a lot to navigate when it comes to finances. I'm actually getting ready to interview, um, a CRNA who made it through school without any debt, and she's going to share how she did it. That's going to be launching hopefully Shortly after the new year, but definitely stay tuned. And, and we do talk a lot about finances. You can find a lot we have on our blog. Natalie Kretzer posted information on the Big Beautiful Bill and what you have to know about it. So if you go to CRNA School Prep Academy.com, you can read more about it. But yeah, combination of, of student loans, savings, and being very cognizant of your spending while you're actually in school.

Yeah. I mean, it's a good time to learn how to, uh, properly manage your money, right?

Right, right.

I think so. Um, that's amazing. So, um, you kind of answered my question. question as to what I was going to ask you. How people— how do people find you? How do people find this program to go through? So it's CR— say it again. CR—

Yes, I know it's a mouthful. People call it CSBA because I chose a mouthful name, uh, but it's CRNA School Prep Academy. I know I've heard every, every combination of that, but CRNA School Prep Academy. We're on all forms of social. We're actually doing our very first in-person conference next year, uh, in partnership with the University of Louisville's Nurse Anesthesia program. And we're giving away 2 conference tickets for that, uh, for CRNA Week, uh, as well as a travel voucher. So amazing. If you and your friend want to go, uh, make sure you apply to this scholarship. We would love to, to get you and your friend at our, at our conference. It's June 12th through the 14th, um, again in Louisville, Kentucky.

That's amazing. Wow, that's, that's awesome. That's your first— this is your first conference?

First in-person conference. We've done, we've done several, uh, virtual ones. The first one actually was Good old pandemic days, you know, and we were in person and then we're like, ooh, it just was not looking good.

Yeah, the pandemic totally wiped out the entire like live anything really. Yeah, conferences especially.

Yeah. Yes. So I it's probably took too long for us to get around to actually doing it, but here we are. We're doing our first kickoff one. I'm so excited in 2026.

I love that. I hope that that goes amazing. That's that's super cool. Anything any parting words you want to leave with aspiring CRNAs or just anything about being a CRNA that just like lights you up or just anything you wanna leave for, for people listening for CRNA Week? Um, any parting words?

Yeah. Don't let others' fears or hesitations or doubts hinder your own ability to give yourself a chance. I see often, you know, people have these doubts that are reinforced by other people saying, oh yeah, you know, if you don't have a 4.0, good luck. Or if you have this or you have that, just, that's white noise. I always look at it as like, be, be like a racehorse. Put your blinders on and focus on the finish line. Don't worry about what's going on around you. Just only focus on those who are going to provide you helpful feedback, feedback that you can take and do something with versus fear. Fear will hinder and crush more dreams than actual failure ever will.

That's so true. Yeah. Yeah. That's so true. And I think, I think what you do is really, really amazing. And I mean that. I think that in nursing in general, and this is again, from even my own experience, just When you're a new grad nurse and really at any point in your journey, just having a mentor is so huge. It makes such a difference. When I was a new grad nurse, I had one who still to this day is one of my very best friends, started out as one of my nurse mentors. And, I think that that is so important. And, just when you're scared and you're nervous, you have somebody that even after your shift when things were going awry that you can just call them and be like, hey, this happened. Can you kind of explain this to me? Why did this happen? So, just you kind of giving back to the community and providing that mentorship and giving people just confidence and just sounds like you have this really amazing structure and framework for people to go through to give them the best chance possible. I think it's really amazing. So, I hope that you pat yourself on the back for that as well because not only is that hard, you're a mom, you're a wife, you have all these things going on in your own life, you're a CRNA, plus now you have this whole academy that people can go through. So, It's really amazing. I just would love to applaud you for that. So, thank you for all that you do for the nursing community.

Well, thank you so much. The nurses are the ones doing the work. What I do is easy. And so, again, they're the ones who inspire me to do what I'm doing. But you said it, nurses, it's so rewarding to have a nurse mentor on your side. And that's what I even with TeachRN, I'm hoping that's what we're out to achieve. So, every nurse feels like they have a mentor. But thank you so much for having me on the show, Colton. This has been amazing. It's so nice to reconnect.

Yeah, of course. Thanks, Jenny. From the bottom of my heart, I wanted to thank you for being here at Club Nurse.

I hope you gained something valuable from today's episode. And if you did, remember to share this episode with someone that you love. Follow me on socials @NurseDaddies or @ColtonLord17, and be sure to follow nurse.org to stay informed with all of the hottest healthcare topics. Until next time, take care of yourself the way you take care of everyone else. Love ya. Bye. Bye.