Facts

History
Nurse anesthetists have been providing anesthesia care to patients in the United States for more than 150 years. The CRNA (Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist) credential came into existence in 1956.

Prolific Providers
CRNAs are anesthesia professionals who safely administer more than 45 million anesthetics to patients each year in the United States, according to the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) 2018 Member Profile Survey.

Rural America
CRNAs are the primary providers of anesthesia care in rural America, enabling healthcare facilities in these medically underserved areas to offer obstetrical, surgical, pain management, and trauma stabilization services. In some states, CRNAs are the sole providers in nearly 100 percent of the rural hospitals.

Anesthesia Safety
According to a 1999 report from the Institute of Medicine (now the Health and Medicine Division of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine), anesthesia care is nearly 50 times safer than it was in the early 1980s. Numerous outcomes studies have demonstrated that there is no difference in the quality of care provided by CRNAs and their physician counterparts.

Autonomy and Responsibility
As advanced practice registered nurses, CRNAs practice with a high degree of autonomy and professional respect. They carry a heavy load of responsibility and are compensated accordingly.*

Practice Settings
CRNAs practice in every setting in which anesthesia is delivered: traditional hospital surgical suites and obstetrical delivery rooms; critical access hospitals; ambulatory surgical centers; the offices of dentists, podiatrists, ophthalmologists, plastic surgeons, and pain management specialists; and U.S. military, Public Health Services, and Department of Veterans Affairs healthcare facilities.

Military Presence
Nurses first provided anesthesia on the battlefields of the American Civil War. During WWI, nurse anesthetists became the predominant providers of anesthesia care to wounded soldiers on the front lines; today, CRNAs continue to be the primary providers of anesthesia care to U.S. military personnel on front lines, navy ships, and aircraft evacuation teams around the globe.

 

Education Requirements
The minimum education and experience required to become a CRNA include**:

  • A baccalaureate or graduate degree in nursing or other appropriate major.
  • An unencumbered license as a registered professional nurse and/or APRN in the United States or its territories and protectorates.
  • A minimum of one year full-time work experience, or its part-time equivalent, as a registered nurse in a critical care setting within the United States, its territories, or a U.S. military hospital outside of the United States. The average experience of RNs entering nurse anesthesia educational programs is 2.9 years.
  • Graduation with a minimum of a master’s degree from a nurse anesthesia educational program accredited by the Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs. As of February 2019, there were 121 accredited nurse anesthesia programs in the United States and Puerto Rico utilizing 1,847 active clinical sites; 88 nurse anesthesia programs are approved to award doctoral degrees for entry into practice.***
  • Nurse anesthesia programs range from 24-51 months, depending on university requirements. Programs include clinical settings and experiences. Graduates of nurse anesthesia educational programs have an average of 9,369 hours of clinical experience.
  • Some CRNAs pursue a fellowship in a specialized area of anesthesiology such as chronic pain management following attainment of their degree in nurse anesthesia.

Certification
Before they can become CRNAs, graduates of nurse anesthesia educational programs must pass the National Certification Examination.

http://www.future-of-anesthesia-care-today.com/pdfs/infogr-anesthesia-changing-landscape.pdf