Wondering if I'm making the right choice...

[SummerWertz]

I'm an upcoming junior in college. I came into college thinking that I wanted to go to medical school to study as an anesthesiologist. After a semester of med school prerequisites and looking down the line, I decided I didn't want to do that. I took a semester off thinking I didn't want to do anything health related. However, after sitting down and thinking about it, I decided I did want to do something in the health field, but I didn't want to be a doctor. I decided to try to become a nurse anesthetist, which is the direction I have been going in for a semester now.

I am enrolled in a shadow program at the hospital and today I was placed in ambulatory surgery under anesthesia tech and two anesthesiologists. There were no nurse anesthetists working in the OR. The anesthesiologist didn't recommend becoming a nurse anesthetist, but did admit that he was biased about it. Now I'm a little nervous to try to become an anesthetist rather than an anesthesiologist. I want to essentially be able to do the same thing as the anesthesiologist, but he said that a lot of times nurse anesthetists have to work under the anesthesiologist. Also, I'm worried about even having a job since these anesthesiologists didn't want a nurse working there. Opinions?

[Yuppers21]

If available in your area, try to shadow anesthestists in CRNA-only practices as well as those in what is a called an Anesthesia Care Team (ACT) model. Experiences can vary quite a bit depending on the amount of independence the anesthestist is allowed to have.