If you’re going to set a career goal, you might as well aim high, right? In the field of nursing, a career as a nurse anesthetist is just about as high as one can aim. A nurse anesthetist, otherwise known as a CRNA (Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist) is the certified counterpart to the MD anesthesiologist profession.
The major differences between the two practices are in education (anesthesiologists have six years more as MD’s), corresponding financial cost of the education and level of complete independence in regards to patient care. Other than that, both professions are responsible for complete anesthesia care.
The 150 year old CRNA profession is regulated by the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists. I’ve included the AANA link at the end of this blog as an excellent resource for nursing students and nurses interesting in pursuing a CRNA career. While specific educational requirements vary between accredited institutions, here is the general checklist for applying to a CRNA training program.
- Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing or Science-related major
- RN License
- Minimum one year of RN experience in critical/acute care area such as ER or ICU
- Prerequisite science courses similar to “Pre-Med” courses
Once you’re accepted into a CRNA program, the ensuing tuition costs for your 2-3 year education can be pricey. However, the financial and career opportunity rewards more than cover those costs. The average salary for CRNA’s as of 2007 was $140,013 (AMGA medical group survey) – the highest of all nursing salaries.
In addition to job opportunities in hospitals and clinical settings, nurse anesthetists can work as researchers, teachers and in health care administration. However, it is the clinical settings that offer the most job opportunities for CRNA’s, with nearly all rural hospitals in America opting for nurse anesthetists over MD anesthesiologists. If you have already set your sights on critical care nursing and are also a talented problem solver, critical thinker, and multi-tasker, a career as a nurse anesthetist is worth looking into.
AANA Website: http://www.aana.com
You may recall that one of the big “pre-swine flu” news stories (remember those days of recent past?) was about the nursing shortage in the U.S. What many of the media outlets covering this story failed to clarify is that the nursing shortage is technically more of an impending one, with over one million nurses needed by 2010. This is the year when the number of aging baby boomers requiring skilled nursing care is expected to peak. There are of course other elderly patients and patients across all demographics that will also require more nursing care as chronic illnesses such as heart disease, stroke and cancer gain prevalence.
You’re an RN with an Associate Degree working several 12 hour shifts per week plus overtime because of sporadic staffing shortages (even though BSN schools are matriculating and graduating nurses as quickly as humanly possible). Your goal is to earn a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing, for higher pay and more job opportunities with additional responsibilities in different clinical settings outside of the hospital such as home health.
