CRNA Week 2016

CRNA Week is January 24-30, 2016 and allnurses.com is proud to support all our student and certified registered nurse anesthetists.

CRNA Week 2016

Nurse Anesthesia History

Anesthesia was first invented around 1840. During the Crimean War in the 1850's Florence Nightingale's work as a nurse advanced the use of anesthesia to treat battlefield amputations and surgery. Anesthesia nursing was the first clinical nursing specialty also and helped to reduce the morbidity and mortality of patients undergoing surgery.

Throughout the years, from Sister Mary Bernard at St. Vincent's Hospital in Pennsylvania in 1887 to Alice Magaw who worked at what is now Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, nurse anesthetists have played a key role in the care of patients undergoing surgery.

Education

As this nursing specialty has evolved so has the education required for it. The first formal program was developed in 1909 at St. Vincent's Hospital in Portland, Oregon. Other early programs include: St John's Hospital in Springfield, Illinois and Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri.

Accreditation of nurse anesthesia programs was implemented in 1952 by the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists. Interestingly, a bachelor's degree in nursing or a related field was required for admission to the nurse anesthesia program in 1986. By 1998, all programs were at the graduate level. The latest position paper by AANA is that all programs must award a doctoral degree by 2025.

Education and experience required to become a CRNA include:

  • A Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) or other appropriate baccalaureate degree.
  • A current license as a registered nurse.
  • At least one year of experience as a registered nurse in a critical care setting.
  • Graduation with a minimum of a master's degree from an accredited nurse anesthesia educational program. As of Aug. 15, 2015, there were 115 accredited nurse anesthesia programs in the United States utilizing more than 2,500 active clinical sites; 37 nurse anesthesia programs are approved to award doctoral degrees for entry into practice. Nurse anesthesia programs range from 24-36 months, depending upon university requirements. All programs include clinical training in university-based or large community hospitals.
  • Pass the National Certification Examination following graduation.

Military Service

The military has provided much experience and has advanced the career focus of nurse anesthesia, especially in the pre-hospital realm. Nurse anesthetists are the principal providers of anesthesia in combat areas of every war including Afganistan and Iraq. They have engaged in combat, suffered wounds, been held as prisoners of war and died in the service of our country. Three nurse anesthetists have served as chief of the Army Nurse Corps.

Research

Nurse anesthetists have contributed to medical research via military service and through national and international disaster service. Both on and off the battlefield they have advanced anesthesia from chlorform to nitrous oxide to more potent yet safer methods of anesthesia. Today, CRNAs care for highly complex and critically ill and injured patients in a safe and caring manner. They are advanced practice nurses who have proven themselves over and over again as safe, productive and cost effective anesthesia providers.

Numerous studies have demonstrated no difference in the level of care provided by CRNAs versus their MD counterparts. Anesthesia regardless of provider, is administered the same way.

Today

CRNAs provide anesthesia to over 40 million anesthetics per year in the US. CRNAs have a high level of autonomy and professionalism. They carry a heavy load of responsibility and are compensated accordingly. CRNAs practice in a wide variety of settings including hospitals, free-standing surgical centers, pain clinics, military service, offices of podiatrists, and surgeons.

allnurses.com is proud to support our Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists and Student Nurse Anesthetists during this week celebrating their achievements. Please check out our forums:

CRNA

SRNA

References

History of Nurse Anesthesia Practice. AANA

Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist Fact Sheet. AANA

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traumaRUs

About traumaRUs, MSN, APRN

Trauma Columnist

14-yr RN experience, ER, ICU, pre-hospital RN, 12+ years experience Nephrology APRN. allnurses Assistant Community Manager. Please let me know how I can help make our site enjoyable.

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Thanks for the awesome article. Does anyone know of any new or soon to be CRNA programs that will launch?

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Thank you! Great article.

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Specializes in Emergency, Trauma, Critical Care.

It is a great article. I remember when I was in an LVN program at 19 and swore Id be a CRNA but then after following one in my RN program for a day I learned that any job with absolute sheer terror and intermingling boredom wasnt likely for me. It looks like a great job for those that can do that.

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