Who should "Pass Gas"?

No AAs out there?

I have been considering and researching the differences between CRNA and AA for a while now, and finally decided on advancing toward the AA route.

I do not believe CRNA's will become a thing of the past, however I do believe that AA's will dramatically increase while CRNA's will maintain or begin to decrease.

The most common defense coming from CRNA's to prove AA's should not practice is that they are lesser trained, which from what I have seen is not the case:

CRNA training programs must include a minimum of 24 months in a Master’s level program accredited by the COA. The training programs may be based at any college or university offering a Master’s level degree. Many nurse anesthetists do not possess a Master’s degree as this was not required until 1998. Nurse anesthetist programs do not require involvement of a medical school or academic physician faculty. Community hospitals may serve as main clinical sites. A minimum of 450 hours of classroom/laboratory education, 800 hours of clinical anesthesia education, and administration of 450 anesthetics, including all types of surgery, must be achieved for the student to successfully complete the training program.

AA training programs must include a minimum of 24 months in a Master’s level program accredited by the Commission for the Accreditation of Allied Health Educational Programs (CAAHEP). The programs must be based at, or in collaboration with, a university that has a medical school and academic anesthesiologist physician faculty. Main clinical sites must be academic medical centers. An average of 600 hours of classroom/laboratory education, 2600 hours of clinical anesthesia education, and more than 600 anesthetics administered, including all types of surgery, are required to successfully complete AA training.

Upon completion of an accredited nurse anesthetist program, a student may become certified by passing the Council for Certification of Nurse Anesthetists certification exam. This examination is an adaptive computer examination consisting of 90-160 questions. Forty hours of approved Continuing Education Units (CEU) are required every two years in order to recertify. To be recertified, nurse anesthetists do not take an additional exam.


Upon completion of an accredited AA program, a student may become certified by passing the NCCAA examination, which is co-validated by the National Board of Medical Examiners. This six-hour examination is administered in a classroom and consists of 200 questions. In order to re-certify, an AA must complete 40 hours of CME every two years. Additionally, AAs must take the Continuing Demonstration of Qualification Exam every six years. This exam follows the same format as the initial certification exam.

Another point is that AA's are trained, taught and encouraged in a medical setting with Anesthesiologists to work as a medical TEAM and not independently.

I realize that BSN's usually have at least 1 year experience in a critical care setting before attending a CRNA program (Just as AA's usually come from a very strong medical background), however while caring for sickly elders or working with babies in NICU is amazing and respectable work, I do not believe it should be a prerequisite or considered training directly towards administering anesthesia.

The main reason I am going the AA route is that it basically requires a pre-med Bachelor degree. (Regardless of what you hear about finger painting from CRNA's) AA schools require master levels in Anatomy, Biochemistry, Physiology and Pharmacology. This opens many doors in the medical field should I ever decide that being an AA is not for me.

I know this is an old thread, I just wanted to respond with my opinion and see if there are any more up to date facts on the difference, They both seem highly trained toward a specific job to me.

Here are some web links on the differences between AAs and CRNAs:

www.asahq.org/asarc/AA-CRNA_Comparison.pdf
http://www.ala-crna.org/index_news_comparison.html (same table as above but different format)

Here is one part of the comparison on the number clinical hours for AAs:
Anesthesia Clinical Education: No minimum number of anesthesia cases required in CAAHEP accreditation criteria. AA programs indicate that total clinical hours range from 2000 to 2718. Published descriptions of the AA programs' total clinical hours, greater in number than anesthesia hours, include experiences apart from anesthesia time (e.g., learning to do physicals, taking patient histories, training and certification processes for life support training, and other learning experiences that a licensed professional RN has already mastered prior to nurse anesthesia program entry).

Survey on public opinion of AAs...
http://www.scienceblog.com/community...0/pub0888.html


Here is blog from an AA about their daily life as an AA.
https://aajobsearch.com/forum/forum_...sp?TID=49&PN=1

Geez, lets at least be honest and consider the source here - the AANA is hardly unbiased, and the questions asked were incredibly leading (or misleading as is usually the case with the AANA).

Kinda like those garbage studies over the last couple years looking at OB anesthesia and CRNA's.

Yep, if ain't in favor of AA's or MDAs it has to be garbage.....You are on nursing website by the way if you didn't forget. So if these studies are so flawed why don't you post the ASA reponse to how they are flawed or something that is little more substantial other than it has biased because it comes from the AANA.

Everything that comes out about CRNAs from the ASA is biased towards anesthesiologists....that is their professional organization so you expect it to be biased. So why would you not expect some bias from the professional organization for CRNAs? It hardly means that their studies are flawed just because you don't agree with them.

Allizar revives a 7 year old post under the pretense of asking a career choice question, but in fact writes a lengthy political statement, interjects opinions which are supposedly from someone with no health care experience. What is the question exactly?

Just for the record, the ICU requirement for CRNA school is typically in a cardiovascular or surgical ICU. The NICU is usually NOT the unit where prospective CRNAs gain their clinical experience. Additionally, the MINIMUM requirement is 1 year. Most CRNA schools prefer 2-3 years in the ICU.

Just for the record, the requirement is for at minimum of 1 year of critical care experience, but each school may determine what constitutes "critical care" for their program. Depending on the program, it can be ER, NICU, or even PACU, in addition to the typical SICU/CCU, etc. And although many schools may prefer 2-3 years in the ICU, the minimum is indeed one year, and I know a number of CRNA's that were accepted to several different CRNA programs prior to their completing that one year, with the proviso that they complete that year prior to their starting their anesthesia program.

Please note that I wrote the words typically and minimum. Of course there are always exceptions to the rule.

I will NEVER allow an AA around my family members; having been around CRNAS and MDs oh say, 18 years in the nursing field and a future CRNA.

NO WAY. There are SO MANY INTRICACIES that an AA with NO PREVIOUS MEDICAL BACKGROUND can EVER see......I see PAs now running around who have NO CLUE....

Again, NO WAY....