[californianurse]

Wow...

[bigjim]

I think the prevailing factor in the pay scale is simply supply and demand. Surgery requires anesthesia, and there aren't enough people to provide it. Surgery (and anesthesia) are billable, profitable things for a hospital or surgical center, so they want to maximize revenue by doing as much of it as possible.

The supply will be limited no matter how much it pays. The way I see it, a "smart" person who is just a good student can get through nursing school, or RT school, or PT school, etc, without really having a passion for it. A lot of people become nurses or other health care professionals just because there are lots of jobs at a decent pay rate with good security, if not security at one job then the availability to change jobs if you don't like the one you have.

I know I looked at health care first and foremost because I was sick of getting laid off from computer jobs. As I started my studies I was glad to learn that I really like it, but I would have done it anyway.

I am currently an EMT in a Paramedic program who will become an RN after Paramedic then go on to either PA or CRNA. As it stands now, I am taking more than a full time load of classes and working and I still don't study much. I just don't have to, I've always been a good student.

There are lots of people like me out there going through nursing or other programs that just come kind of naturally to them. They are looking for money, or job security, or any of a dozen other reasons. But the number of people who can make it through an advanced, clinical-heavy program like CRNA will always be limited. For every guy like me sleepwalking through A&P and Pathophysiology and getting an A, there is not an equivalent person going through the motions to be a CRNA. You'd have to be Albert Flipping Einstein to do that school and that job if you didn't really have a passion for it.

Just the prerequisites would stop the non-serious. Few people are going to make it through RN, BSN, CCRN, ACLS, PALS, and the other requirements if they aren't 100% focused. And a lot of people are going to get sidetracked by the fact that you can make $70-100k or more as a regular RN and not have to do the incredible amount of learning and assume the higher liability of a CRNA.

I agree with the above posters who said that many new nurses/wannabe nurses are thinking of CRNA solely for the money, but do not realize the difficult road to get there. Many will get comfortable somewhere along the way and stay an RN, or will realize at some point in the climb up the ladder that they can't make it. That is why the money is so good, there are just so many people who can complete the program and go on to practice safely and effectively, and the number is less than the need. When and if that changes, salaries will fall. Until then, they should stay high.