Rosalind Franklin CRNA Interview: Kira + Small Group (2026)

Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science conducts all Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Nurse Anesthesia interviews virtually from October to February. Interviews begin as soon as completed applications are received, reviewed, and scored, and offers go out until all seats in the cohort are filled.

According to RFU's Common Questions page, the interview process has three components designed to identify attributes key to student success, let faculty and staff get to know you, and answer your questions about the program:

• Step 1: Asynchronous virtual interview. Invited candidates receive a personalized email invitation to record online responses through the Kira Talent web portal.
• Step 2: Synchronous virtual small group interview. Invited candidates also receive a personalized email invitation to join a live online small group interview.
• Step 3: Informal virtual information session. Based on faculty scoring of each interview, selected candidates may receive an email invitation to schedule a live virtual Information Session with RFU students and faculty.

One warning on RFU's Common Questions page matters more than any other tip you will read. RFU states that genuine, spontaneous, and candid responses are highly valued over answers that are pre-rehearsed, read, or assisted by artificial intelligence tools. Do not tape notes to your monitor for Kira Talent, and do not keep a script open on your screen during the small group interview.

During the interview process, you also receive a survey to indicate your preferences for didactic and clinical education locations (Illinois or Colorado). RFU notes that your flexibility regarding locations for didactic learning and clinical training is an important consideration for acceptance. You learn your assigned primary location when you receive an offer of acceptance.

To rehearse speaking spontaneously on camera without a script, Confetto lets you practice one-way video prompts with think and response timers alongside live mock interviews with follow-up questions. Start your free week.

Check your personalized invitation emails for the exact rules, prompt counts, and schedule for your Kira Talent and small group sessions.

Because RFU combines an asynchronous recorded step with a live small group conversation, you are tested on two different communication skills. On Kira Talent, you talk to a webcam with no nodding interviewer and no follow-up questions to rescue a vague story. In the small group interview, faculty watch how you speak concisely, listen to other ICU nurses, and answer without sounding scripted.

Use this two-week preparation plan built around RFU's published interview criteria. For a broader look at how nurse anesthesia interviews work across the country, read our guide to CRNA school interviews.

• Kill the script habit first. Record yourself answering three behavioral questions on your laptop webcam with a short prep timer and a brief speaking limit. Watch the playback. If your eyes dart to notes or your voice sounds like you are reading an essay, redo it until you are talking from memory.
• Audit your ICU bedside routine against RFU's four clinical pillars. RFU defines a qualifying critical care area as one where you routinely manage invasive hemodynamic monitors (pulmonary artery, central venous pressure, and arterial catheters), cardiac assist devices, mechanical ventilation, and vasoactive infusions. Pick two unstable patients you cared for recently and practice explaining their pathophysiology and your exact titrations out loud in under two minutes.
• Practice the small group dynamic. In a small group interview, rambling steals air from other applicants. Practice answering a question in 60 to 90 seconds, stopping cleanly, and connecting your point to what another nurse in the group just said.
• Decide your location answer before the survey arrives. Know how you will answer if asked about training in North Chicago versus Colorado Springs, or rotating to a clinical site more than an hour from your home base for 3 to 6 months.
• Prepare two real questions for the Information Session. Selected candidates meet current RFU students and faculty after interview scoring. Have questions ready about the Quarter 2 cadaver and sonoanatomy labs in North Chicago, the doctoral project timeline, or balancing the optional Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (AGACNP) certificate.

We wrote the practice questions and example answers below to match RFU's two interview formats and the exact clinical competencies listed on its Application Requirements page: invasive hemodynamic monitors, cardiac assist devices, mechanical ventilation, and vasoactive infusions, plus the leadership and life experience qualities evaluated in the application. For 38 more practice prompts across pharmacology, physiology, and emotional intelligence, see our full guide to CRNA school interview questions and answers.

Clinical Question 1 (Invasive hemodynamics and vasoactive infusions): Walk us through a recent ICU patient you managed who required invasive hemodynamic monitoring and multiple vasoactive infusions. How did the numbers guide your titration?

Example answer written by our team. The applicant is invented: "Last month in the CVICU, I admitted a 68-year-old post-CABG patient who arrived hypotensive with a blood pressure of 82/46 on an arterial line and a cardiac index of 1.7 on his pulmonary artery catheter. His central venous pressure was 14, his pulmonary artery diastolic pressure was 24, and his systemic vascular resistance was elevated at 1,450. Looking at those numbers together, his issue wasn't hypovolemia or vasoplegia. He had poor forward flow from myocardial stunning against high afterload. He was already on norepinephrine at 0.08 mcg/kg/min, so turning the norepinephrine up further was only going to increase his afterload and myocardial oxygen demand. I talked with the intensivist and we started epinephrine at 0.03 mcg/kg/min for beta-1 inotropic support, then weaned the norepinephrine down as his contractility improved. Over the next two hours his cardiac index climbed to 2.4, his SvO2 came up from 54% to 66%, and his lactate cleared from 3.8 to 1.9."

Pharmacology Question 2 (Receptor profiles at the bedside): Compare norepinephrine, phenylephrine, and vasopressin. When would you reach for one over the other in a hypotensive patient?

Example answer written by our team. The applicant is invented: "Norepinephrine is primarily a strong alpha-1 agonist with modest beta-1 activity. It raises systemic vascular resistance through peripheral vasoconstriction while giving enough beta-1 stimulation to help maintain stroke volume and cardiac output, which is why it is our first-line pressor in septic shock. Phenylephrine is a pure alpha-1 agonist with no beta activity. Because it increases afterload without supporting contractility, it can trigger a reflex bradycardia or drop cardiac output in a patient with poor left ventricular function, though it is helpful when a patient is hypotensive and tachycardic or has dynamic left ventricular outflow tract obstruction. Vasopressin acts on V1 receptors in vascular smooth muscle and V2 receptors in the renal collecting ducts, completely independent of adrenergic receptors. In catecholamine-resistant shock or severe acidosis where alpha-1 receptors are downregulated and blunted, adding vasopressin at a fixed dose of 0.03 units/min restores vascular tone and lets us titrate down high-dose norepinephrine."

Mechanical Ventilation Question 3 (Ventilator management): Your mechanically ventilated patient with pneumonia suddenly triggers a high peak inspiratory pressure alarm. How do you differentiate airway resistance from decreased lung compliance at the bedside?

Example answer written by our team. The applicant is invented: "First I look at the patient and check oxygen saturation, blood pressure, and breath sounds to make sure they aren't acutely decompensating or self-extubated. Next, on the ventilator, I perform an inspiratory hold maneuver to check the plateau pressure. Peak inspiratory pressure reflects both airway resistance and lung-chest wall compliance, while plateau pressure measures alveolar pressure at zero flow and reflects compliance alone. If the peak pressure is high, say 42 cm H2O, but the plateau pressure stays normal at 22 cm H2O, the gradient is wide and the problem is airway resistance. I check for a kinked endotracheal tube, biting, bronchospasm, or a mucus plug that needs suctioning. If both the peak pressure and the plateau pressure are elevated above 30 cm H2O, the lung compliance itself has dropped. Then I am assessing for worsening ARDS, pulmonary edema, abdominal distension, or a tension pneumothorax."

Kira Talent / Small Group Behavioral Question 4 (Spontaneous personal prompt): Our first 18 months are front-loaded and transition from online distance quarters to intensive in-person simulation. Tell us about a time you had to adapt quickly to a high-pressure change at work, and how that prepares you for our hybrid schedule.

Example answer written by our team. The applicant is invented: "When our surgical ICU converted four pods to take ECMO overflows during a winter staffing shortage, I went from orienting new graduates on stable post-op cases to serving as relief charge nurse on night shift with two weeks' notice. The hardest part was keeping my own critical patients safe while triaging questions from newer nurses who hadn't managed continuous renal replacement therapy before. I built a 15-minute huddle at 9:00 PM where we walked every room running a device, checked filter pressures together, and paired each junior nurse with a resource buddy before midnight emergencies hit. That taught me how to structure my own time when nobody is standing over me, and when to ask for hands-on help early. In Quarters 1 and 3 at RFU, I will need that same self-discipline for online coursework, and when we move into Quarters 4 through 6 for in-person simulation, I already know how to work closely inside a small team."

Additional prompts to practice on timer:

• Explain how an intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) improves coronary perfusion and decreases left ventricular workload. What waveform change tells you the balloon is inflating too early?
• Walk us through an arterial blood gas of pH 7.24, PaCO2 58, PaO2 68, HCO3 24 on a patient on volume control ventilation. What ventilator adjustment do you anticipate and why?
• Tell us about a clinical mistake or near-miss you were part of in the ICU. What did you do in the moment, and what changed in your practice afterward?
• Why Rosalind Franklin University, and how have you prepared your finances and family support for 50 to 60 hours a week of study and potential clinical rotations more than an hour from home?

Every outcome number below comes from RFU's Class Profile, Common Questions, and Accreditation pages. You can also compare RFU against other accredited programs in the Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs (COA) CRNA School Search database.

For the 2026 entering class, RFU matriculated 53 students from 793 applicants. By our calculation from RFU's 2026 Class Profile, 53 matriculants out of 793 applicants is a 6.7% matriculation rate (about 1 seat for every 15 applicants).

You are caring for an intubated ICU patient sedated on a propofol infusion at 55 mcg/kg/min for the past 72 hours. Their morning labs show a new metabolic acidosis with a lactate of 5.2, triglycerides of 680, and peaked T waves on the cardiac monitor. What is happening, and what are your immediate steps?

• RFU DNP Nurse Anesthesia Overview
• RFU DNP Application Requirements
• RFU DNP How to Apply
• RFU DNP Common Questions
• RFU Nurse Anesthesia 2026 Class Profile
• RFU DNP Accreditation & Outcomes
• RFU DNP Nurse Anesthesia Curriculum
• RFU Nurse Anesthesia Cost & Fees (2026-2027)
• COA CRNA School Search