Why so Interested????

NRSNFL, great response! I'm in total agreement with you, also considering jumping onto the anesthesia wagon at some point. I'm in an ICU, a bit sick of all the paperwork/double-documenting and constantly playing the middle man (while being underpaid), and frankly missing the detail-oriented, specialized activities that I thought I'd be doing more of when I started here. The ICU can be great at times, but I need more of a challenge. Autonomy is fantastic, too. We'll see if I decide to make the jump into CRNA school -- it's a huge time, financial, and mental investment, and I can't say I'd make it just for the money... although I won't lie and say it's not a nice reward for putting my nose to the grindstone.

Wow......you are so right. There's nothing similar between CRNAs and NPs.......and the money's great, you'll need it to pay back what you spend on school and missed time from RN work.....but that's not the main thing. Money won't make you happy. The work is what I love. The physiology, the pharmacology, the big one for me was AUTONOMY.....not asking some intern for a Lasix order when I as the ICU nurse knew what the patient needed........so that was a huge motivator for me. Also one patient at a time.......most of my life was in the ER where we had an infinite number of patients.........more incoming at all times and the older patients NEVER LEAVE......at least not for hours and hours......so just one patient, no matter how sick, was always attractive to me.

On a side note, and this is kind of sad.......when I finished anesthesia school and was being wined and dined by different groups, finally took a job, the respect with which I was treated was amazing. I didn't realize this until after graduation. I was a nurse for 20 years before going back to CRNA school and I wouldn't trade a minute of my nursing experience. But I know how badly hospitals treat nurses......its like being married to an abuser....then the CRNA world is like finally having a loving respectful spouse. That's the best analogy I can come up with with only one cup of coffee on board....

But people that only go into anesthesia for the money are missing it....and there are people that do this. I wanted to take my nursing care to the next level and for me, anesthesia is the best form of nursing. Patient advocate, vital signs monitor, more than what Paindoc said as "just a technician"...you have to use your brain, give hemodynamically altering drugs at appropriate times, have multiple skills, and use all the knowledge and skill God gave you every day. I can't think of anything I'd rather do......and patients are generally much more appreciative of our skills....we are very popular.....and especially OB patients love us......when the labor becomes more tolerable, we are their best bud.....

Just some thoughts.......God bless all

That's true that admin treats you like a credit card bill as a regular staff nurse but there's more to the story. I worked 10yrs before starting anesthesia school and thought everyone loved anesthesia. Not so. In the OR it's always our fault no matter the circumstance from the circulators to scrubs to the surgeons and even anesthesia techs. There are a lot of jealous people who think they should be doing our job. They are better than us and hate that we are making a killing (or going to). But for some reason, the doctors deserve good pay but not anesthesia.

The income has shrunk and so has the job availability currently. There is an anesthesia group in Nashville that use to pay for schooling once a student was accepted into school but not currently. Starting pay in Nashville and Atlanta is humming around 110000 if you actually find a job. Locum tenums (PRN) is non-existant unless you go over an hour or more away.

I love practicing anesthesia. It's an enjoyable career. After I pay off nearly 60,000 in school tuition and over 150,000 family living expenses because of no work with school, then I will enjoy the income.