In the United States alone, nurse anesthetists have been providing anesthesia care for over 150 years. In addition to that, they are the nurse specialty group that has been around the longest in the US. Today, they are the primary anesthesia providers for the United States service men and women at home and overseas. So why hasn’t anyone really heard about nurse anesthetists unless they know of people in the profession and/or want to go into that field themselves?

          Many people have heard of anesthesia and know of what it does. A lot of younger adults are exposed to it firstly from wisdom teeth extractions. Some people might be familiar with it if they have undergone certain surgical procedures. And if none of that has occurred to an individual yet, they hear about it through someone else: “it’s that stuff that makes you go to sleep” or “you don’t feel anything if they give you anesthesia”. However, people often assume that the person providing the anesthesia is an anesthesiologist – at least those that know of what they are. In some settings, that is true. However, certified registered nurse anesthetists – also known as CRNA’s for short – have been performing independently for a while now, and it’s unfair to credit anesthesiologists when nurse anesthetists are the ones taking away your pain. Not to say anesthesiologists don’t do their jobs, or that they aren’t as good as CRNA’s, because they are, and a lot of the times they’re better. But as similar as they are to each other, to confuse the two is an insult to both professions. It would be like comparing fraternal twins – they do similar things and they’re from the same family, but they’re just not completely the same.

          According to the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), certified registered nurse anesthetists are no longer required to be supervised by physicians when they administer anesthesia to Medicare patients. Currently, physician supervision is required for hospitals and other ambulatory surgical centers to receive Medicare reimbursement for patients’ anesthesia care, but not for the CRNA’s reimbursement. Seventeen states opted out of this requirement. These states include: North Dakota, South Dakota, Washington, Wisconsin, Iowa, New Mexico, Montana, Alaska, Oregon, Colorado, Idaho, Kentucky, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and California. This means that in these states, it is legal for a CRNA to give an anesthetic without a surgeon or an anesthesiologist overlooking the procedure. According to the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists, having CRNA’s work without supervision creates a major advancement in the medical setting because it allows hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers to perform more efficiently in the operating rooms with less complications by the book (Stewart).

          Nursing anesthesiology is a graduate prepared profession. In the United States, one must complete their undergraduate school with a Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing (BSN). After that, they must pass the NCLEX to be licensed as a registered nurse (RN). CRNA schools require at least 1-2 years of experience in an intensive care unit (ICU) or critical care unit; whether that be surgical, cardiovascular, neuro, or another one of the other ICU branches. Working in the ER won’t count because there isn’t a lot that would gain you experience for the CRNA profession in the emergency room setting. After that, one would have to apply to a CRNA school, which is a minimum of 27 months, depending on where you go. One can choose to earn a Master’s degree in anesthesia or a doctorate degree – which, of course, takes longer, but with a doctorate degree, one can proceed to teaching if they decide after a while that the hospital setting is no longer for them. Personally, I am going for a Master’s degree in anesthesia, and this whole process would take me about 8 years and some change before I become a certified registered nurse anesthetist and get paid as one – a median annual salary of $171,882 as of January 30th, 2017 (salary.com). Anesthesiologists spend a lot more time in school and residency; four years of undergraduate school, four years of medical school, and then another four years in residency before making around $359,990 as of January 30th, 2017 (salary.com). It wasn’t worth it for me to spend 12 years of my life learning before being able to work.

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