Nurse Anesthetist: An overview of the profession and its future outlook

To become a certified nurse anesthetist (CRNA) requires a registered nurse to obtain an advanced degree beyond that of the undergraduate level. "Nurse anesthetists (CRNAs) are registered nurses with specialized graduate-level education in anesthesiology who provide anesthesia services ordered by a physician, dentist, or podiatrist, and are certified by the BRN [Board of Registered Nursing] in this specialty" ("Advanced Practice Nurses," 2015). CRNA duties encompass sedation; coordinating treatment care during the process of anesthesia administration, and also palliative care. "Anesthesia practice consists of all accepted anesthesia techniques including general, epidural, spinal, peripheral nerve block, sedation or local" ("Advanced Practice Nurses," 2015).

Although the educational demands are considerable upon nurse anesthetists, this field is one of the most lucrative within the health professions. These professionals can expect to devote 6 to 7 years to obtaining their degree but the average salary ranges from $158,900-$214,000 in compensation ("Nurse anesthetist," 2015). There are a number of unusual features of this subspecialty, including the disproportionate number of men (who may be willing to overcome gender stereotypes because of the lucrative and in-demand nature of the profession):...

Nurse anesthetists also have to have strong leadership skills given the responsibilities they shoulder in many contexts: "CRNAs are the sole providers in nearly 100% of rural hospitals" ("Nurse anesthetist," 2015). More and more APNs are operating independently of physicians in response to the pressure to keep healthcare costs down. Overall, more than 65% of all anesthetics given to patients each year and CRNAs "are the sole providers of anesthesia in approximately one-third of U.S. hospitals" ("Expanded roles for APNs," 2015).
Not all states have fully embraced the critical role that nurse anesthetists have been playing in many areas of the country. For example, in California, the California Society of Anesthesiologists (CSA) and the California Medical Association (CMA) filed a lawsuit alleging it was illegal to allow CRNAs to anesthetize Medicare patients in hospitals or work in ambulatory surgical centers without physician supervision (Lyttle 2010). But lack of access to physician-provided care and the explosion of surgeries not performed in conventional inpatient settings is likely to make the use of CRNAs more rather than less critical in the future despite such objections. There is also a greater need for anesthesia in non-surgical settings which…