query on date field with AM/PM designation

I need to query a table that has the date field formatted as follows:

12/1/2000 12:33:16 PM

The query basically is looking for a range between two dates.

select * from area_formulae where create_dt > to_date('12/1/2000 12:33:15','mm/dd/yyyy hh:mi:ss')
and create_dt < to_date('12/1/2000 12:33:18','mm/dd/yyyy hh:mi:ss')

This query that will work but it ignores the AM or PM designation. How would I query for a range of dates that would cover both the AM and PM ranges?Can you do this?

'mm/dd/yyyy hh:mi:ss AM/PM'