Medical Jobs

How To Get A Job As A Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist

Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists are highly skilled nurses who are responsible for ensuring that their patients feel no pain.

Employment opportunities for Nurse Anesthetists are excellent, and expected to continue so, due to today’s rapidly growing health industry.  Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists are among the most highly paid of all nurses.

Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists work in hospital operating rooms, health clinics, outpatient surgery centers, medical offices, and the United States Army.  They are employed literally anywhere that surgeries are performed, as well as where infants are delivered.  Nurse Anesthetist work alongside anesthesiologists, surgeons, ophthalmologists, dentists, podiatrists, and other medical personnel.

To become a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist, a CRNA, you must be dedicated, responsible, detail oriented, compassionate, respectful, have good communication skills, be able to function well under pressure, and be able to work well as part of a team.  You must have a strong desire to help people.

CRNAs are responsible for remaining on duty as long as a procedure is in progress, as well as for recovery time.  They may work some forty hour weeks, but they may also work on call, or as needed, which can mean long hours, evenings, nights, weekends, and holidays.

Although the majority of anesthetic services to smaller hospitals and facilities in rural communities are provided by CRNAs, these professionals work in all facilities, both rural and urban.  Some Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists choose to start their careers in larger centers where they may work with the guidance and support of an Anesthesiologist, rather than in the rural centers where they may be totally responsible for all anesthetic processes.  That choice may be a wise one.

Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists are licensed professional nurses who do literally everything that an Anesthesiologist does.  However, they do not require as much education and therefore the remuneration they receive is less.  Nurse Anesthetists review patient medical histories, meet with the patienst to explain procedures, and answer patient questions and concerns.  They administer anesthetics, and change or adjust these as needed during the procedure.  They monitor the patient’s vital signs during the procedure, and later reverse the medications in order to revive the patient.  They then monitor the recovery.  Nurse Anesthetists administer both local and general anesthetics as well as spinal epidurals, and pain management medications.

Education

If you are still in high school, make sure you take courses in English, chemistry, physics, biology, mathematics, and computer sciences.  It is useful, in any job, to speak a foreign language, so include a foreign language in your program.

To become a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist, you must first become a registered nurse, an RN.  To do this you take your bachelor of nursing degree.  There is a lot of competition in the field of nursing, so you must keep your GPA high, in order to be admitted.  Be aware that high marks in subjects unrelated to nursing, bear less weight.  After obtaining your BN degree, you must write a national exam to obtain your license to practice.  Requirements vary from state to state, so make sure you understand fully what is required by the state in which you wish to seek employment.

For more information on licensing requirements and procedures, go to:

https://www.ncsbn.org/nclex.htm

Once you have become a Licensed Registered Nurse, you will need to get some experience.  The amount required may vary but three years is ideal.  At least one year of experience must be in an intensive care unit in a major hospital.

With some experience under your belt, you will then need to get your master of science in nursing degree, your MSN.  These courses take from two to three years.  Before applying, you must take your GRE, your graduate record exam.  This is now required by almost all graduate programs.  Prepare well for this exam, as even though it can be retaken, it is costly.  You admission for the graduate program will depend heavily on your final score on the GRE.  For more information go to:

http://www.ets.org/gre/

It is wise to fill applications for about three graduate programs of your choice.  Applications include a completed paper application as well as a fee.  Competition is keen.  Before final acceptance to any program, you will be interviewed by the admissions committee.  They will ascertain you fitness for the profession.

Make sure the Certified Registered Nursing Anesthetist program you choose is accredited by The Council Of Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs.

Once you have completed this program, you must write an exam to become certified.  You will need to be re-certified every two years.

A career as a Certified Registered Nursing Anesthetist, like all careers in medicine, is challenging, and requires constant reeducation, in order to remain current with on-going updates in the discipline.