CRNA | Certified Registered Nurse Anaesthetist
A nurse anesthetist is also known as a certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA), which is a licensed professional nurse primarily responsible for administering anesthesia to patients.
These nurses can perform the same tasks as an anesthesiologist and is a specialization that many nurses are currently seeking to advance their careers.
Becoming a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist
By getting additional schooling you can efficiently administer medication to your patients. A certified registered nurse anesthetist can care for a patient all through the surgical process. They administer medications to sedate the patients and assist in helping patients through surgery. This is an attractive list of additional tasks that you can complete. Many CRNAs enjoy the fact that they get to spend more time with their patients and can provide total care through the whole process.
Most CRNAs will work almost exclusively with patients undergoing surgery. So a CRNA will perform the initial assessment on a patient and administer the initial medications. Then they will monitor the patient’s progress during surgery and make sure that everything goes properly during surgery, along with the assistance of surgeons and other medical professionals. Then upon the completion of surgery, certified registered nurse anesthetists will make sure that the patients successfully wake up from the anesthesia. This is the primary role of CRNAs is to work along a group of medical professionals to ensure a patients success in surgical suites.
Where Can I Work as a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist?
When you become a certified registered nurse anesthetist you can work in any healthcare setting according to Bureau of Labor Statistics. Whether you choose to work in public or private healthcare that decision remains with your preferences. As long as you have certification you can work anywhere that you desire. There are also several small doctors’ offices like dentists and podiatrists that retain certified register nurse assistants as the main nurses in their office. This occurs because of the versatility of CRNAs. These nurses can administer medications and perform all of the vital responsibilities of a registered nurse. So these doctors want a nurse on staff who can fit as many roles as possible.
There are a good number of CRNAs in the workforce, but this number is small compared to other nursing vocations. You become one of the elite few highly specialized nurses in your job field when you become a certified registered nurse anesthetist. Nursing is extremely popular but there are only about 30,000 CRNAs working in healthcare in the United States. This opens up a huge amount of careers that are available to you solely because you have a highly sought after degree. You become a highly skilled CRNA which opens up many more job opportunities.
Education Requirements for Nurse Anesthetist
When you decide that you are going to become a certified registered nurse anesthetist, you have to determine if you have the time for the schooling. For a student straight out of high school, you will need to have a bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) to even qualify to take courses to become a certified nurse anesthetist. This requires a four-year college degree before you have all the prerequisites that are necessary to continue your education. In addition to having your BSN degree, you will also need to be a certified registered nurse.
This means you should have taken your national licensing examination (NCLEX-RN), and passed this test to have this certification. The only additional thing that you need to qualify to become a certified registered nurse anesthetist is on the job training. You will need at least one year of working in a hospital as a registered nurse. Once you satisfy all of these requirements you can apply to a CRNA program.
Depending on the program that you apply to, you might have some additional items that you need to turn into a school along with your education pre-requisites. To make sure that you are pursuing this career for the right reasons, some schools like Columbia University require a statement of purpose. Very similar to a college essay you will need to explain your motives behind becoming a certified registered nurse anesthetist. There is also an admission interview you will have to complete before you are finally enrolled into a course.
When you are accepted into your CRNA program you will have a lot of schooling ahead of you before you can graduate with this certification. You have to take classes for 24-36 months before you can graduate. During graduate schooling, you will learn all about anesthesia and additional anatomy. You will also take classes in pharmacology. To actually receive your certification you will have to pass a national certification exam. However, once you finish the years of graduate training and pass the certification exam you will be a certified registered nurse anesthetist.
The career path for a certified registered nurse anesthetist is wide open. This is a certification that will open up your job field and the future of your career. You can also make substantially more money in this vocation. So seek out additional education and become a certified registered nurse anesthetist if you are interested in broadening the horizons of your career.
CRNA|Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist Programs
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