CRNA vs Anesthesiologist Assistant

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So, I have a friend who is currently in a 13 month accelerated BSN with hopes of becoming a CRNA in the future. However, she has recently found out about programs to become an anesthesiologist assistant. She is interested in doing that instead of the nursing program since CRNAs and anesthesiologist assistants do pretty much the same thing. After doing some research on both paths, it seems like she can become an anesthesiologist assistant and just focus on the field of anesthesiology and have to finish the nursing program. She seems to be set on this idea of leaving the accelerated nursing since she only just began her fall semester/second month of the program and focusing on finishing her prerequisites which are similar to those required for medical school, shadow in the field (some AA schools only require shadowing experience to get in) and taking the MCAT. After completing that she hopes to apply in hopes of being accepted. The reason why she doesn't want to complete the nursing program anymore is because she is most passionate about anesthesia.

Has anyone heard about anesthesiologist assistant programs? Does anyone have any advice about her decision? Would it look bad on her application if she did decide to leave the accelerated nursing program to go to an anesthesiologist assistant program instead?

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.

Try searching here for Anesthesia Assistant. There was a recent thread that explained the differences. Most of us were unfamiliar with that position.

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Okay thanks! I was going to add that I know there are some differences as well based on the research I have done, but I will go check out that thread.

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Specializes in Critical care.

Your friend needs to be comfortable with the idea that going AA means ALWAYS requiring on-site MDA (physician anesthesiologist) supervision and that she will not be licensed to practice in every US state (not totally certain, but I recall its actually less than half, please independently verify for yourselves).

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
FAQs galore.
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