How much do you make?

Specialties CRNA

Published

Now, before I get blown up with comments saying "it's not about money, but patient care". I get that. No need to tell me over and over. I heard CRNAs mainly get hired in rural areas, which kind of scares me. I would simply like to know the average starting salary of your line of work, plus the area you live in, and/or the amount of experience you have as a CRNA. Thank you!

Specializes in CRNA, Finally retired.

And that's what happens when you pump students out like gas. My program accepted 10 students (back in the 80's). One dropped out the first week. All classes were taught by university staff. Now there are 38 students scattered over several states and there is no university presence at these sites.

Our profession is shooting itself in the feet.

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Specializes in Anesthesia.

It is illegal to limit the number of SRNAs at the accreditation level. What the COA and AANA are doing is increasing the training requirements of SRNAs, eliminating schools that are not regionally accredited, and moving to the doctorate level which will also eliminate some schools. Requiring CRNAs to retest may eventually have some effect on total numbers of CRNAS.

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Specializes in CRNA, Finally retired.

1. Raise admission requirements - return to the days when everyone had to take real organic chem

and physics.

2. Stop accepting online classes for the hard sciences

I have no doubt that requiring doctorate will price out a lot of students. Not sure it will improve the quality of anesthesia students unless dedicated instructors are used, that is, instructors who are employed by the degree granting institution. Not the fly-by-night " instructors" like me who dreads finding my room set up by a student and I know I am stuck for the day:). But so is the poor student:(

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Specializes in CRNA, Finally retired.

Sorry! I have no control of those stupid face emoticons appearing.

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Specializes in ICU.

I can't say I think raising requirements will help around here, at least. There are two DNP programs within an hour from me, and they are already fiercely competitive. We don't have any of those distance learning programs in the state - four of the six are state universities, and the two private schools offering CRNA programs currently rank #7 and #11 in the country, so they are not diploma mills by any stretch of the imagination.

Raising the cost of CRNA school would do the most to weed out people, in my opinion. I could go to almost every CRNA school in my state for around $40k or less, even the DNP ones. Taking out a student loan that I could pay back in less than a year with an aggressive repayment plan in order to double my income is a no brainer.

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Specializes in CRNA, Finally retired.

Wow, $40,000 is so cheap it's unimaginable to me. It cost me a lot more than that in the ancient times. But you have 6 programs in one state? What is that doing to salaries with that glut of students?

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Specializes in Nurse Anesthesia.

The truth is... CRNAs work everywhere from rural to big cities. The reason you are more likely to find a Nurse Anesthetist in a rural setting, as opposed to an anesthesiologist, is that CRNAs are more cost effective and provide the same level of care. There was recent legislation that was going to change that and increase the level of reimbursements for anesthesiologists in rural settings, but the bills didn't pass. So it is safe to say that CRNAs will continued to be used more than MDAs in these types of locations.

Next...Why does working in a rural area scare you? By the time you graduate from CRNA school you will be more than prepared to work as a CRNA. I would recommend applying for a job where ever you do your clinicals. This makes the transition easy, because you already know the staff, hospital, routine, etc. Thats what I did.

Finally... a CRNA's salary depends on a lot of factors:

1. Are you 1099 or W2

2. Years of experience

3. Location (biggest impact on salary) (Good article: "How Much do CRNAs Make")

I am a CRNA and work as a self-contractor (so 1099). This allows me to write off a lot of business expenses and save money on taxes. If you go this route, you will want to get a good CPA. I wish you the best of luck in school!

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Specializes in ICU.

90k's in Florida I am not surprised a friend of mine made that in Texas as an RN not CRNA. Heck I made 10k in one month working 8-9 shifts per check. Its all about location.

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How did you find the job out of anesthesia school as a partner? Is it rare to find practices that you can buy into?

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How did you find the job out of anesthesia school as a partner? Is it rare to find practices that you can buy into?

My CRNA program requires a few months rotation in a CRNA only practice. Many times if you do well with them they will extend an offer to be a part of their practice after graduation (if they need anyone). Then after a little time, it's possible to buy into the practice if the partner's consent. I don't know if I've heard of someone coming right out of CRNA school and becoming partner without even showing they are a competent independent practitioner.

Our professors gave us the heads up that nearing graduation we're going to think we're rockstars who know everything about anesthesia and get cocky. Then two years into practice we'll look back and see that we really didn't know as much as we thought we did about clinical practice.

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Specializes in Anesthesia.

I'm I western PA and made almost 180k last year with some OT in there. In general, big cities will pay less than small rural cities and towns. I have friends that moved to rural Texas and made a base salary of 200k. CRNA demand is on the rise so don't believe the naysayers. There's tons of jobs right now and sign on bonuses are coming back. It was hard to get where I'm at but this job is worth all the effort

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I have a question.The salaries people post here are based on how many hours?Is it 40 hour?

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