What is a nurse anesthetist?
A Nurse Anesthetist, or Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA), is a licensed advanced practice nurse. After completing extensive education and training, CRNAs become nationally certified. CRNAs administer approximately 65% of the 26 million anesthetics administered in the United States each year. They practice in a variety of settings in the private and public sectors and in the U.S. military, including traditional hospital surgical suites and obstetrical delivery rooms, ambulatory surgery centers, pain clinics, and physicians’ offices. Of the current 30,000 CRNAs, 40% are employed as group employees, 33% are hospital employees, 13% are independent contractors, 6% are owners or partners in a practice, and 4% practice in the military or government. In 2006, the mean annual salary was $145,000.
A The nurse anesthetist is a specialized anesthesia nurse who works together with the anesthesiologist on certain cases. The anesthetist is trained to handle the majority of the tasks and problems encountered in administering an anesthetic. This provides the advantage of a team approach to patient care. The anesthetist must have completed an associate, diploma or degree Registered Nurse program, acquired additional nursing experience in a critical care area for at least one year, followed by at least two years of specialized nurse anesthesia training. All of the Fairbanks Anesthesia anesthetists have passed the rigorous national certification examination, being certified by the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists, and most have many years of experience. All of the Fairbanks Anesthesia Group anesthetists have additional training in specialized areas such as cardiac care units, intensive care units, critical care nursing, and/or cardiac surgery. Many of our anesthetists also have
