CRNA Hearing Requirements?

[USN2UNC]

Quick question. As I was looking at the Armies requirements for CRNAs it seems they have steeper hearing requirements. I had no clue why, but then I found something on a Anesthesia Earpiece. I also found that a lot of clinicians do not use this either in an AANA report.

So, if I decided that CRNA was where I wanted to be (not army, but in general) would a high Frequency hearing loss in my right ear only cause any issues with that? It is defined as moderate high freq loss in right ear, but I have 100% speech recognition, and I never noticed or knew I had it until I joined the military and was told of it. Just wondering...

Thanks,

Chuck

[gluck]

The civilian programs that I looked at had basic medical questionnaires to be completed by a physician asserting general health and no known physical limitations. No specific tests were required. So if you can get by in an interview without it being noticed ...

Hearing acuity is essential for much more than just the earpieces. Obviously, you need to hear other members of team without seeing their mouths and faces. Also, Every device you use in your practice will have it's own set of beeps, buzzers, and tweets to alert you to both normal and abnormal conditions. Your patient's life will depend on your ability to locate and distinguish those sounds and respond appropriately.

It sounds like your limitation is minimal and we are all going to have some degree of high frequency loss--keep the volume down on your ipods girls and boys

[USN2UNC]

Thanks for responding! I definitely don't think it will be a big deal, especially since my left ear is pretty stellar and I have 100% speech recognition. I will definitely not put my aspirations in front of patient safety if it does come down to that. Thanks again!

Chuck