i've been a lurker on this board for about a year now; not particularly active in participation, but more active in soaking up knowledge from others as i start my nursing career.
i'm interested in a career as a crna and it was the primary reason for pursuing my bsn, a second degree for me. over time i've read as much as possible about the trade, shadowed a number of crna's doing anything from epidurals at the bedside to or cases and have found it to be an excellent fit for what i do well. recently i made the mistake of reading posts on studentdoctor.net in the anesthesiology forum (gasforums.net) and find myself visiting regularly. oops. talk about a downer. the venom spit at crna's is remarkable. it seems every chance they get to bash, lobby against, pad their own pockets, etc., they take it and exploit it. therein lies my reason for this thread.
those of you who have experience as a crna i'm hoping you can provide some insight as to the collaboration and attitudes between mda's and crna's. i suspect that overall it's pretty solid and it's only a very minor group of people who hate crna's as much as they seem to on that "other" board. part of what is tainting my view is that the asa has a huge thumb on anesthesia here in colorado, going so far as to name the governor himself in a lawsuit brought about in response to the medicare "opting out" issue, putting crna's on unequal footing, so to speak.
are crna's respected by mda's or is there a relative lack of respect but both sides ignore it? any other insight you can provide? thanks much for your help.