Career Research Paper

CRNA stands for Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetics. Related occupations to a

CRNA include Anesthesiologist assistants, Perfusionists, Physician assistants, and Surgical
technologists. CRNAs work with anesthesiologists, surgeons and other physicians. They help to
deliver anesthesia for medical and surgical procedures. A CRNA takes care of a patient before
they go into surgery, during their surgery, and after their surgery or procedure. The CRNA does
this by conducting a patient assessment, preparing the patient for anesthesia, administering and
maintaining the anesthesia to make sure that the patient is under proper sedation and pain
management, overseeing the patient in recovery from the anesthesia, and then take care of the
patient after their surgery is over with. CRNAs are the sole providers of anesthesia in nearly all
of rural hospitals.
Becoming a CRNA is a fairly long process but it is very well worth it. To become a
CRNA you need to first earn a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN). You must then have a
current license as a registered nurse. Then you are required to have at least 1 year of experience
in a critical care setting such as an emergency room or an ICU. But getting the required amount
of time in the ICU or Emergency Room often takes more than just 1 year because you have to
bid on jobs in the Emergency Room or ICU and you may not get the job some of the times that
you bid on a job. After completing at least 1 year of experience you then return back to school to
acquire a masters degree in nurse anesthesia which is generally 2 years or longer depending on
where you go through the program. Once you have completed your 2-3 years you must take the
National Certification Exam (NCE). And finally, when you become a CRNA and are working
you must keep your Registered Nurse's license valid and then every 2 years you must complete
40 hours of continued education for the rest of your career.

Skills and requirements outside of the educational qualifications include excellent

communication and interpersonal skills, the ability to work with other medical, nursing, and
health personnel as well as patients and their families. You must also be very flexible and be able
to adapt to unpredictable situations. On top of all of this, leadership skills are essential as well as
the ability to analyze a problem and come up with appropriate solutions and implicate your
decision to solve the problem.
CRNAs often work in the same places that anesthesiologists work. These places include;
hospital waiting rooms, labor and delivery units, critical and ICU floors, outpatient centers,
offices of dentists, plastic surgeons offices, ambulatory surgical centers, and pain management
clinics as well as healthcare facilities of the military, and a few other places. Work hours of a
CRNA are generally the usual business hours and some on call time is also required such as a
few nights a week. CRNAs in their first year are often stuck with working holidays but once they
gain more experience and seniority at the business that they work at they will have the holidays
distributed more evenly.
The average CRNA salary that they make every year is between $110,000-$212,000.
$110,000 is usually the starting annual salary for a CRNA. CRNAs achieve job advancement and
promotions by earning more experience. They can achieve job advancement by gaining
additional experience and can in turn earn more and more money and continue to move toward
$200,000 or even more than that. CRNAs generally make somewhere between $95-$105 per
hour (depending on the state or area you work in). That means that they bring home about
$3,800-$4,200 every week. The amount that a CRNA gets paid per hour changes depending on
the state that they are living and work in and what type of company they work for. In some states

the pay only fluctuates by a dollar or two but depending on the city and need for CRNAs the pay
can increase by five to ten dollars.
AANA is a professional organization that is associated with CRNAs, and more than 80
percent of CRNAs belong to this professional organization. AANA stands for the American
Association of Nurse Anesthetics. This organization represents almost 48,000 Certified
Registered Nurse Anesthetics and student CRNAs. The AANA supports the profession of
CRNAs by giving education and research grants to students, faculty, and practicing CRNAs.
Over 90 percent of CRNAs are members of this organization.
For several years there has been a shortage of CRNAs. The medical field has made
several advances and has expanded greatly. The medical field is a field that is always going to be
needed and expanding as the world becomes more and more populated and new illnesses are
discovered. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, CRNAs are in
great demand and will continue to be in the future.
Marina Psychas is a nurse that has worked as a nurse for 3 years after graduating from
Michigan State University. She currently works in the Emergency Room at Allegiance Health in
Jackson. I interviewed Marina to ask what her career is really like. Marina said "Its pretty
eventful. There is a lot of action at times. There are some patients that come in with cold and
others that come in with shotgun or stab wounds, we get it all. But, overall its a really fun job to
have. If helping other people is a passion that you have then this job is definitely one for you."