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CRNA School Interview Questions: 38 With Answers (2026)
CRNA school interviews ask why you want to be a nurse anesthetist, clinical questions about your own ICU patients, and ethics and behavioral questions. The clinical part is the hardest. Panels ask you to explain a drip, read a blood gas or walk through a code, then keep asking "why?" Below are 38 questions with what each checks, an answer outline and 8 full sample answers.
For program-by-program interview formats, see our CRNA school interview guides. To practice out loud, try Confetto's nursing school interview practice.
What a CRNA interview looks like
Each program sets its own format, so read every invitation and the program's own pages to know who will interview you and what else the day includes. Clinical questions usually start from your own unit (balloon pumps for CVICU, intracranial pressure for neuro ICU), and anything you mention is fair game.
Motivation and the CRNA role
Almost every panel starts here. They want a specific reason and proof that you know what the job is.
Why do you want to be a CRNA?
What it checks: A real, specific reason and that you have seen the work.
A strong answer: One specific moment that pulled you toward anesthesia, what you learned shadowing a CRNA, and why the role fits how you like to work. "I love the ICU" is where most answers stop, and it is not enough.
Sample answer, written by Confetto. The applicant is invented: CVICU nurse with four years of experience. 154 words, about 65 seconds out loud.
The part of my job I like most is the hour after a patient comes back from the operating room. In the CVICU I take report from the anesthesia provider, and I started noticing how much of my patient's first night was decided in the OR: which drips they were on, how the airway went, how much fluid they got. Two years ago I asked to shadow a CRNA for a day. I watched her induce a frail patient with aortic stenosis, and she had phenylephrine ready before the pressure moved, because she knew what the induction drugs would do to that heart. That is the practice I want: one patient at a time, physiology and pharmacology minute by minute, and real responsibility for the plan. I have spent four years getting good at titrating drips and reading the monitor. Now I want to learn to do it from the head of the bed.
Why CRNA and not nurse practitioner or medical school?
What it checks: That you chose anesthesia on purpose, not by default.
A strong answer: What is different about anesthesia practice: one patient at a time, physiology and pharmacology minute by minute, airway management, and the CRNA's role in the operating room. Do not put the other roles down.
Sample answer, written by Confetto. The applicant is invented: MICU nurse with three years of experience. 144 words, about 60 seconds out loud.
I looked hard at both. I shadowed a nurse practitioner in a cardiology clinic, and I respected the work, but I missed the bedside. Her day was about following patients over months, and what I enjoy is managing one sick patient closely, right now. Medical school would have meant starting over, with many years of training before I could do the anesthesia work I am drawn to, and I want to build on my nursing practice, not leave it. Nurse anesthesia lets me do that. It is advanced practice built on the ICU skills I already have: drips, ventilators, airways and fast decisions. When I shadowed a CRNA, the moment that settled it was emergence. She was watching the monitor, the patient's breathing and the surgeon's closing all at once, and she was calm. That is the work I want to be trained for.
What does a CRNA do on a typical day?
What it checks: That you know the job beyond the ICU view of it.
A strong answer: The preanesthetic assessment, the anesthesia plan, induction and the airway, keeping the patient stable during surgery, emergence and the handoff in the recovery unit. Mention that CRNAs work in many settings, alone or in a care team with anesthesiologists.
What did you learn when you shadowed a CRNA?
What it checks: Whether you really watched the work and thought about it.
A strong answer: One or two concrete things you saw, such as how the CRNA planned an induction for a sick patient or managed emergence, what surprised you, and how it confirmed (or changed) your picture of the role. Name the kind of cases, not the patient.
How to answer a clinical question
- Say what it is in one sentence.
- Explain how it works: the receptor, the physiology or the mechanism.
- Say what you would watch and what would worry you.
- Say what you would do, in order, including when you would call for help.
If you do not know, say so and reason out loud from physiology. A confident wrong answer costs more than an honest gap. Here is what a strong answer to one of them does:
Hemodynamics and drips
The most common clinical topic: your own drips, receptor by receptor, and what you do when a number moves.
Walk me through the vasoactive drips you titrate most often. How does each one work?
What it checks: Receptor-level pharmacology for the drugs you already give.
A strong answer: Norepinephrine is mostly alpha-1 with some beta-1, so it raises SVR and MAP. Epinephrine is beta-1 and beta-2 at low doses and adds alpha effects as the dose rises. Vasopressin acts on V1 receptors, so it still works when catecholamines are not enough. Phenylephrine is pure alpha-1 and can cause a reflex bradycardia. Dobutamine is a beta-1 inotrope, and milrinone is a PDE-3 inhibitor that raises contractility and dilates.
Your patient on norepinephrine has a MAP of 55. What do you do?
What it checks: That you confirm the number, look for a cause and act in order.
A strong answer: Check the patient first, then the number: look at the patient, confirm the arterial line is leveled and zeroed, and compare with a cuff pressure. Then think about why: volume, sepsis, bleeding, a new arrhythmia or a drug. Titrate within the order, tell the provider, and say what you would expect next, such as a second agent or fluids.
Sample answer, written by Confetto. The applicant is invented: SICU nurse with three years of experience. 169 words, about 70 seconds out loud.
First I would look at the patient, not just the monitor. Are they awake, are they perfusing, what does the waveform look like? I would check that the arterial line is leveled at the phlebostatic axis and zeroed, and compare it with a cuff pressure, because a line leveled too high reads falsely low. If the MAP is real, I would think about why. On my unit that usually means bleeding, sepsis, a new arrhythmia or too much sedation. I would check the rhythm, the drains and the latest hemoglobin and lactate, and make sure the norepinephrine is actually running into the patient. Then I would titrate it within the order, toward a MAP of at least 65 unless the team set a different goal, and call the provider with what I found. If we needed more, I would expect a fluid bolus if the patient is dry, or vasopressin as a second agent, which works on V1 receptors and still raises vascular tone when catecholamines are not enough.
Explain preload, afterload and contractility. How would you change each one?
What it checks: Whether you can teach core physiology simply.
A strong answer: Preload is the stretch of the ventricle before it contracts (fluids raise it, diuretics and venodilators lower it). Afterload is the resistance the ventricle pumps against (vasopressors raise it, vasodilators lower it). Contractility is the strength of the squeeze (inotropes raise it). Tie it to the Frank-Starling curve and give an example from a patient you cared for.
What is SVR, and what makes it high or low?
What it checks: That you can link a number to a type of shock.
A strong answer: Systemic vascular resistance is the resistance of the systemic circulation. It is low in septic or anaphylactic shock and with vasodilators, and high in cardiogenic shock, hypovolemia and hypothermia, when the body clamps down to hold the pressure.
How does an intra-aortic balloon pump work, and what do you watch for?
What it checks: Device knowledge and the complications you would catch.
A strong answer: It inflates in diastole, at the dicrotic notch, which raises coronary perfusion, and deflates just before systole, which lowers afterload. Watch the timing, distal pulses and perfusion of the leg, the left radial pulse (the balloon can migrate up and block the left subclavian) and urine output (it can migrate down over the renal arteries).
A patient after cardiac surgery becomes hypotensive and tachycardic, the CVP rises, and the chest tubes suddenly stop draining. What are you worried about?
What it checks: Pattern recognition and knowing when drugs are not the fix.
A strong answer: Cardiac tamponade. Say what you would check (a clotted chest tube, muffled heart sounds, narrowing pulse pressure, equalizing pressures if there is a PA catheter), that you would call the surgeon right away, and that the fix is surgical, not more vasopressors.
How would you manage a patient in septic shock in the first hour?
What it checks: That you know the current sepsis bundle and why each step matters.
A strong answer: Measure a lactate, draw blood cultures before antibiotics if that does not delay them, and give broad-spectrum antibiotics fast (within an hour in septic shock). Give crystalloid for hypoperfusion (the Surviving Sepsis guidelines suggest at least 30 mL/kg in the first 3 hours). Start norepinephrine as the first vasopressor, aiming for a MAP of about 65, and add vasopressin rather than pushing norepinephrine ever higher.
Airway, ventilation and blood gases
Panels check that you understand the ventilator and the blood gas, not just the alarms.
Your ventilated patient's peak pressure jumps, but the plateau pressure stays the same. What does that tell you?
What it checks: Whether you can read the ventilator, not just silence it.
A strong answer: A resistance problem in the airway: a kinked or bitten tube, secretions, or bronchospasm. If the plateau pressure rises too, it is a compliance problem in the lungs or chest wall, such as a pneumothorax, a mainstem intubation, worsening ARDS or a tight abdomen.
Your intubated patient suddenly desaturates. What do you do?
What it checks: A safe, ordered response under pressure.
A strong answer: Take the patient off the ventilator and bag with 100% oxygen, then work through DOPE: Displacement of the tube, Obstruction, Pneumothorax and Equipment failure. Call for help early and say what you would see on the monitor and the chest.
Sample answer, written by Confetto. The applicant is invented: MICU nurse with four years of experience. 165 words, about 70 seconds out loud.
I would go to the patient first and look at the chest, the tube and the monitor. If the saturation keeps falling, I would disconnect from the ventilator and bag with 100% oxygen, which tells me quickly whether the problem is the patient or the machine. Then I would work through DOPE. Displacement: is the tube at the same mark, is there still end-tidal CO2, are breath sounds equal on both sides? Obstruction: can I pass a suction catheter, is the patient biting the tube? Pneumothorax: breath sounds on one side only, rising airway pressures, a falling blood pressure. Equipment: the oxygen supply, the circuit and the ventilator. I would call the respiratory therapist and the provider early, not after I had solved it. Once a patient of mine with ARDS desaturated right after we turned him, and the bag was hard to squeeze. The tube had kinked under his head. I fixed it, his saturation came back, and we changed how we secured it.
Interpret this blood gas: pH 7.28, PaCO2 55, HCO3 26.
What it checks: A step-by-step method, then the cause and the fix.
A strong answer: Acute respiratory acidosis: the pH is low, the CO2 is high, and the bicarbonate is still normal because the kidneys have not had time to compensate. Then say what you would do about it, such as raising the minute ventilation, and what might have caused it.
Sample answer, written by Confetto. The applicant is invented: Neuro ICU nurse with two years of experience. 161 words, about 70 seconds out loud.
I start with the pH. 7.28 is acidemia. Then the CO2: 55 is high, which fits an acidosis, so the main problem is respiratory. The bicarbonate is 26, which is normal, so the kidneys have not had time to compensate. That makes this an acute respiratory acidosis. Then I ask why the patient is not breathing enough. On my unit that could be too much opioid or sedation, a patient who is tiring out, or a neurologic problem affecting the drive to breathe. If the patient were on the ventilator, I would expect the team to raise the minute ventilation, often the rate first, and recheck a gas. If not, I would look at the airway and the sedation, think about naloxone if an opioid was the cause, and be ready for noninvasive or mechanical ventilation. In a neuro patient I would also watch the CO2 closely, because a high CO2 raises cerebral blood flow and can raise the intracranial pressure.
Interpret this blood gas: pH 7.25, PaCO2 30, HCO3 14. What else would you check?
What it checks: Whether you go past the label to compensation and cause.
A strong answer: Metabolic acidosis with respiratory compensation. Winter's formula predicts a PaCO2 of 1.5 x 14 + 8 = 29, plus or minus 2, so a PaCO2 of 30 is appropriate compensation. Then calculate the anion gap (sodium minus chloride and bicarbonate). A high gap points to lactic acidosis, ketoacidosis, kidney failure or a toxin. A normal gap points to diarrhea or large volumes of normal saline.
How would you set the ventilator for a patient with ARDS, and why?
What it checks: Lung-protective ventilation and the reason for it.
A strong answer: Low tidal volumes of about 6 mL/kg of predicted body weight, a plateau pressure of 30 cm H2O or less, and enough PEEP to keep the alveoli open, accepting some hypercapnia. The goal is to protect the lungs from the ventilator itself.
What makes an airway difficult, and how would you assess it?
What it checks: Interest in the airway, the core of anesthesia.
A strong answer: Mouth opening, Mallampati class, thyromental distance, neck movement, dentition, obesity and a history of a difficult intubation. You do not need to know how to manage it yet. Show that you know why it matters and what you have seen in the ICU.
Codes and emergencies
Answer in the order you would act.
Your patient goes into pulseless ventricular tachycardia. Walk me through the first few minutes.
What it checks: ACLS in the right order and your role on the team.
A strong answer: Call the code and start compressions, defibrillate as soon as the pads are on, and resume CPR right after each shock. Epinephrine goes in after the second shock and amiodarone (or lidocaine) after the third, following ACLS. Mention your role on the team and the reversible causes, the Hs and Ts.
What is malignant hyperthermia, and how is it treated?
What it checks: That you know the anesthesia emergency every panel likes.
A strong answer: A reaction to volatile anesthetics or succinylcholine in susceptible patients. A rising end-tidal CO2 is often the earliest sign, followed by tachycardia, muscle rigidity and, late, a high temperature. Stop the trigger, give dantrolene, hyperventilate with 100% oxygen, cool the patient and treat high potassium.
Your patient's potassium is 6.8 and the T waves are peaked. What do you do?
What it checks: Treating the heart first, then the number.
A strong answer: Put the patient on a monitor and call the provider. Give IV calcium (gluconate or chloride) first to stabilize the heart. Shift potassium into the cells with regular insulin and dextrose and with albuterol, and watch the glucose afterward. Then remove it with diuretics, a potassium binder or dialysis, and stop any potassium the patient is getting.
Tell me about a code or rapid response you were part of. What was your role?
What it checks: Whether you can explain what you did and why.
A strong answer: What happened in a sentence, what you did, in order, and why. Interviewers will ask about the drugs given and the rhythm, so only include what you can explain. End with what you learned or would do differently.
Pharmacology and physiology
Know the mechanism, the main side effect and the reversal.
How do propofol and dexmedetomidine differ?
What it checks: Sedation pharmacology you use every shift.
A strong answer: Propofol acts on GABA-A receptors, works fast and wears off fast, and causes hypotension and respiratory depression. It comes in a lipid emulsion, so watch triglycerides, and long high-dose infusions carry a risk of propofol infusion syndrome. Dexmedetomidine is an alpha-2 agonist that sedates without much respiratory depression but can cause bradycardia and hypotension.
How does succinylcholine work, and when would you avoid it?
What it checks: Anesthesia drug knowledge and its dangers.
A strong answer: It is a depolarizing neuromuscular blocker with a fast onset and short duration. Avoid it when potassium could rise dangerously, such as after burns or crush injuries a day or more old, in denervation injuries or long immobility, and in patients with a history of malignant hyperthermia or pseudocholinesterase deficiency.
What is the difference between rocuronium and succinylcholine, and what does sugammadex do?
What it checks: That you can compare drugs, not just recite one.
A strong answer: Rocuronium is a nondepolarizing blocker that competes at the receptor and lasts longer. Sugammadex reverses rocuronium and vecuronium by binding the drug itself, unlike neostigmine, which raises acetylcholine.
Walk me through the oxyhemoglobin dissociation curve. What shifts it to the right?
What it checks: Classic physiology, and whether you can apply it.
A strong answer: A rise in CO2, acidosis, a higher temperature and more 2,3-DPG shift it to the right, so hemoglobin gives up oxygen more easily to the tissues. Alkalosis, hypothermia and carbon monoxide shift it to the left.
How does heparin work, and how do you reverse it?
What it checks: A drug you give often, down to the reversal.
A strong answer: Heparin works with antithrombin to inactivate thrombin and factor Xa. Protamine reverses it. Mention how you monitor it (aPTT or anti-Xa, by your unit's protocol) and the risk of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia.
What is local anesthetic systemic toxicity, and how is it treated?
What it checks: Whether you have read ahead into anesthesia.
A strong answer: Too much local anesthetic in the bloodstream. Early signs are numbness around the mouth, a metallic taste, ringing in the ears and agitation, then seizures and arrhythmias or cardiac arrest. Bupivacaine is the most cardiotoxic. Stop the injection, call for help, give 100% oxygen, treat seizures with a benzodiazepine and give 20% lipid emulsion. If you need ACLS, use smaller epinephrine doses and avoid vasopressin.
Ethics and professionalism
There is rarely one right answer. Panels want to see you put the patient first and follow a clear process.
You suspect a colleague is impaired at work or diverting drugs. What do you do?
What it checks: That patient safety beats loyalty, and that you follow policy.
A strong answer: Make sure the patients are safe, then report what you saw to the charge nurse or manager, following your hospital's policy. Do not ignore it or investigate on your own. Show that you see substance use as a health problem and that reporting is how the colleague gets help. Mention why this matters even more in anesthesia, where potent drugs are close at hand.
Sample answer, written by Confetto. The applicant is invented: MICU nurse with five years of experience. 157 words, about 65 seconds out loud.
Patient safety comes first, so I would not ignore it, and I would not try to investigate it myself. If I thought a colleague was impaired on shift, I would make sure their patients were safe right away and tell the charge nurse or manager that day, with the facts I had seen: slurred speech, wasted doses that did not add up, long unexplained breaks. I would follow the hospital's policy for reporting, which usually involves the manager and pharmacy. I would also remember that this is a person who may have a substance use disorder, which is a health problem. Reporting is how they get help, through employee health and peer assistance programs, and how the next patient stays safe. In anesthesia it matters even more, because the drugs are so potent and so close at hand. It is not a comfortable call to make, but staying quiet is the choice that can cost a life.
A Jehovah's Witness patient refuses blood products before surgery. How do you approach it?
What it checks: Respect for autonomy and a calm, practical plan.
A strong answer: A competent adult can refuse treatment, even when you disagree. Make sure the patient understands the risks, ask which products and techniques they will and will not accept (this varies from person to person), document it clearly and make sure the whole team knows the plan. Do not pressure the patient or let your own values decide.
Just before a procedure, a patient tells you they do not understand what they agreed to. What do you do?
What it checks: Patient advocacy when the schedule says go.
A strong answer: Stop and speak up. Tell the provider who obtained the consent and ask them to come back and explain, even if it delays the case. Consent means the patient understands, not just that a form is signed. Show that you can raise this calmly and without blaming anyone.
Behavioral questions
These test how you work with people under pressure. Use real ICU stories.
Tell me about your most challenging ICU patient.
What it checks: Clinical depth, judgment and how you tell a story.
A strong answer: A one-line summary of the patient, what was going on, what you did and why, and how it ended. The follow-ups go deep, so choose a patient whose drips, devices and labs you can explain.
Tell me about a mistake you made at work.
What it checks: Honesty and a safety habit.
A strong answer: A real mistake, how you caught it and told someone, what you did for the patient, and what you changed afterward. Interviewers want honesty and a safety habit, not a mistake that is really a strength.
Sample answer, written by Confetto. The applicant is invented: CVICU nurse with three years of experience. 148 words, about 65 seconds out loud.
In my first year I hung a new bag of heparin and programmed the pump at the bolus rate instead of the infusion rate. About twenty minutes later, when I rechecked my drips during my hourly assessment, I saw the rate was wrong. I stopped the infusion, checked the patient for bleeding, and told my charge nurse and the provider right away. We drew a stat aPTT, followed our heparin protocol, and restarted at the right rate. The patient had no bleeding. I filed a safety report and said plainly that it was my error. What I changed: I now read the pump back against the order out loud, and I ask a second nurse to check every high-alert drip I start or change, not only when policy requires it. Our unit later made that double check standard for heparin, and I helped teach it to new graduates.
Tell me about a time you disagreed with a provider's order.
What it checks: That you speak up for the patient and stay professional.
A strong answer: What the concern was, how you raised it with the facts, and how it was resolved. Show that you speak up for the patient and stay professional.
Sample answer, written by Confetto. The applicant is invented: SICU nurse with four years of experience. 148 words, about 65 seconds out loud.
A post-op patient of mine had a potassium of 3.1 and frequent PVCs, and the night resident ordered 40 mEq of potassium chloride through a peripheral IV over one hour. Our unit's policy capped peripheral potassium at 10 mEq an hour, because a faster rate can damage the vein and cause dangerous arrhythmias. I called him, gave him the potassium level and the rhythm, told him the patient only had a small IV in the hand, and asked whether we could run it over four hours, give part of it by mouth, or place a central line. He had not realized the patient had no central access. We split the dose between oral and IV, I rechecked the potassium, and the PVCs settled. I did not just refuse the order or just give it. I brought him the facts and a safe option, and we solved it together.
Describe a time you stayed calm under pressure.
What it checks: Composure, which panels sometimes test live.
A strong answer: A specific event, what you did first, and how you kept the team organized. Panels sometimes push hard on purpose to see this skill live.
How will you handle the workload of a doctoral program?
What it checks: That you have a real plan, not just enthusiasm.
A strong answer: How you have handled hard stretches before, your plan for money, family and study time, and your support. Programs know how demanding the program is and want to see you have thought it through.
Answer the "Tell me about a time..." questions with the STAR method. Weighing CRNA against nurse practitioner? Our FNP and NP program interview questions guide covers that path.
Program-specific questions
Read the program's own pages before the interview. Generic answers stand out here.
Why our program?
What it checks: That you researched this program, not CRNA programs in general.
A strong answer: Two or three specific things about the program, such as its clinical sites, its simulation, its schedule or something a student told you, and why they fit you.
What will you do if you are not accepted this year?
What it checks: Resilience and commitment to the path.
A strong answer: A calm, specific plan: ask for feedback, strengthen what was weakest (more or higher-acuity ICU time, the CCRN, a graduate science course) and apply again. Show that you are committed to anesthesia, not to one outcome this cycle.
What questions do you have for us?
What it checks: Real interest and that you prepared.
A strong answer: Two or three questions the website does not answer, such as how students are supported in the first clinical rotations, how clinical sites are assigned or what recent graduates say they wish they had known. Avoid questions about things you could have looked up.
What programs require before you interview
Panels often ask about your path, so know the rules that shaped it.
- A doctorate. Under the COA accreditation standards, students accepted on or after January 1, 2022 must graduate with a doctoral degree, such as a DNP or a DNAP.
- At least one year of critical care. COA requires at least one year of full-time critical care experience as a registered nurse, or its part-time equivalent. Many programs want more. Duke requires one year of current, continuous full-time critical care and prefers two. Georgetown requires two years of full-time ICU work before you start. Mayo Clinic requires two years of ICU by the program start, plus the CCRN.
- The right kind of unit. Programs set their own lists. Baylor and Texas Wesleyan, for example, say emergency department and recovery unit (PACU) experience does not meet their ICU requirement.
- Board certification after you graduate. To become a CRNA, you pass the NBCRNA's National Certification Examination (NCE).
How to prepare
- Explain every drip, device and diagnosis on your unit out loud with the four steps above, then review physiology, blood gases, ACLS and the drugs on this page. Some programs require the CCRN and others encourage it, and it covers the same ground.
- Shadow a CRNA, and prepare six to eight ICU stories: a sick patient, a mistake, a disagreement, a code, an ethical problem and a time you stayed calm.
- Read each program's own pages and its school guide in our CRNA hub, then practice with someone who asks "why?" after every answer.
Sources
Admission and certification facts come from these official pages, checked on October 28, 2026. Clinical points follow standard references: the AHA's ACLS algorithms, the ARDSNet protocol, MHAUS for malignant hyperthermia, the ASRA checklist for local anesthetic toxicity and the Surviving Sepsis Campaign 2021 guidelines.
- Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs (COA), Standards for Accreditation, Practice Doctorate
- AANA, Become a CRNA
- AANA, CRNA fact sheet
- NBCRNA, National Certification Examination
- Duke University School of Nursing, Nurse Anesthesia admission
- Georgetown University, Apply to the DNAP
- Mayo Clinic DNAP, Application process
- Baylor College of Medicine, Nurse Anesthesia FAQ
- Texas Wesleyan University, Nurse Anesthesia (DNAP) admissions
Frequently asked questions
Do CRNA interviews ask clinical questions?
Many do. Texas Wesleyan, for example, says its interview is where you show your critical care knowledge. Expect questions on the drips and devices you manage, hemodynamics, ventilators, blood gases, codes and common anesthesia drugs. They usually start from your own unit and go deeper with each follow-up.
How much ICU experience do I need for CRNA school?
The COA accreditation standards require at least one year of full-time critical care experience as a registered nurse, or its part-time equivalent. Many programs want more. Georgetown and Mayo Clinic require two years, and Duke requires one and prefers two. Check each program's own page.
Does emergency department or PACU experience count?
Usually not. Baylor and Texas Wesleyan, for example, say emergency department and recovery unit (PACU) work does not meet their ICU requirement. The COA standards let programs consider other units if you can show you managed unstable patients, so ask the programs you are applying to.
Do CRNA programs require a doctorate now?
Yes. Under the COA standards, students accepted into a nurse anesthesia program on or after January 1, 2022 must graduate with a doctoral degree, such as a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) or Doctor of Nurse Anesthesia Practice (DNAP).
What happens after CRNA school?
You take the National Certification Examination (NCE) from the NBCRNA. Passing it is how you become certified as a CRNA.
Do I need the CCRN to get an interview?
Some programs require it, Mayo Clinic among them, and others, such as Duke, strongly encourage it. Even where it is optional, studying for it is good preparation for the clinical questions.
How long should my answers be?
For clinical questions, as long as it takes to define, explain, monitor and act, usually one to two minutes. For behavioral and motivation questions, aim for about a minute. The sample answers on this page run about a minute out loud.
More CRNA program guides
Applying to more CRNA programs? How other programs interview: