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What if CRNA school interviews have been measuring the wrong things all along?
In this episode of Airway Exchange, Vicente Gonzalez, DNP, CRNA and Ann Miller, DNP, CRNA, faculty from Florida International University, break down their groundbreaking new admissions interview process designed to assess what traditional interviews often miss: resilience, adaptability, teamwork, critical thinking, and emotional regulation.
Instead of asking rehearsed questions like “Why do you want to be a CRNA?”, FIU developed a series of immersive, high-pressure stations inspired by medical school admissions models. Candidates rotate through critical thinking scenarios, escape room challenges, dosage calculations, and even a controversial “dominoes station” built to test cognitive flexibility under stress.
The goal? Identify applicants who can truly succeed in the realities of nurse anesthesia education—not just interview well.
The results so far are remarkable, with program attrition dropping from 22% to just 2%.
If you’re a future SRNA, educator, or CRNA interested in the future of admissions and education, this episode is a fascinating look at how the profession may be evolving.
Here’s some of what you’ll hear in this episode:
🧠 Traditional CRNA interviews often reward rehearsed answers—not authentic ability
🎯 The new process focuses on resilience, critical thinking, and adaptability
🤝 Teamwork and communication are assessed in live group scenarios
⚖️ Structured rubrics help reduce interviewer bias
💉 CCRN-level knowledge is used instead of anesthesia-specific trick questions
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“The reality is we’ll never get it perfect because we can’t control for life circumstances, and we know that. That contributes to attrition, in addition to the baseline characteristics and skills that somebody might show up with.”
