Is it still financially worth it to become CRNA?

PeaceKeepr · Jun 13, 2015

Base RN pay in the rural South east is ~20-25/hr. The hospital I work for pays CRNAs ~150k/yr. I'm about to start CRNA school. I have punched the #s and it will be very "financially worth it". This past year I managed to earn around 85k, but I worked Baylor weekends (Fri/Sat/Sun) plus 2-3 days extra during the week to get there. Based off of my circumstances and projected student loans vs. expected future salary, I should be able to pay down loans quickly (

In the end, becoming a CRNA and being "worth it" depends on your circumstances and how you define "worth".

bibibi · Jun 15, 2015

I would stay away from debt nowadays. RN make good salaries. There are some RN specialties out there who make six figures. If you would like to pursue the more education route I would go to a school where you could work and study. That leaves out CRNA school because they don't reimburse you for the labor that you provide for 2 years. Actual learning part of it is maybe 30% the rest is free labor. If you are looking to earn more money I would look into administration, becoming a medical representative, etc. Surgical equipment representatives in OR make as much as CRNA, if not more, and have no debt and did not waste their time in school.

tsipareht · Jun 24, 2015

ICUman - can you elaborate on this?

So many people go into CRNA with their eyes on the $$$ signs when you can make just as much as a NP, if you play your cards right

guest769224 · Jun 24, 2015

ICUman - can you elaborate on this?
So many people go into CRNA with their eyes on the $$$ signs when you can make just as much as a NP, if you play your cards right

Sure, I am friends with a handful of NP's who all make >120k per year after taxes. One is a friend here on this website, who makes around 160k a year as a psych NP. My other friend makes 125k as a cosmetic/dermatology NP here in the intermountain west. Another individual I know of, makes 220k a year as an FNP in Texas, doing home health visits and assessments, in addition to another PRN gig elsewhere. He's able to do that because he's single and can work extra.

So you just have to decide what's best for you. To me, sitting in an OR room texting for the majority of the cases is not so much what I desire. Getting out and about, interacting with patients is more appealing to me, and you can make good money in it.

Initially, I desired to pursue CRNA for the financial reward it yields. I wised up and did my research and settled on NP, something I'm more passionate about. Plus, there is growing evidence that the anesthesia field is saturating. Someone here recently mentioned new grad CRNA's make 90k in their area. Kind of an insult for all the difficult schooling they endure. You just have to decide what's best for you!

subee, MSN, CRNA · Jun 25, 2015

Started my first CRNA job in 1984. Was very happy for two years when I worked in a smallish hospital without much supervision and did my own cases on nights and weekends. That all ended in 1986 when I became a corporate widget for The Man. Yes, you make a good salary. BUT, I made many personal sacrifices over the years in terms of losing some vacations at the last minute, missing family affairs and holidays (24 hour shifts when on-call) and put up with an incredible amount of BS from MDA's. I retired when I was 66 with painful weakened hands (intubating 100's of pumpkin heads) and a weak back (who has to lift all those pumpkin heads back to their stretchers at end of case?). My point is only that you EARN that money and as weaker corporations get taken over by the giants (who signed my paycheck this week?), nobody cares if you did a good job. You have to be able to derive your own satisfaction from completing another good anesthetic because NOBODY else cares. If you're OK with that, you'll survive. Most CRNA's I know are miserable because of the working conditions, even though they love the moment to moment patient care. The exhaustion comes from having to maintain your integrity working with others who just see you as their money making machine - which, don't fool yourself, you ARE. Very few CRNA's get to work independently and it's usually in rural areas where most people don't want to live.

Cherry29 · Aug 1, 2015

Hi,

I will be CRNA very soon. I read your post and comparison of the salaries of RN and CRNA; however, you compared 48 hours of RN salary to 36 hours of CRNA salary. If you compare 48 hours salaries of RN and CRNA, you will see a huge difference.

So here is the analysis based on the numbers provided by you:

RN salary:

4038/ 2 weeks = 4038 dollars/ 96 hours (since you work 4 shifts)= 42 dollars/ hour

now since your take home is 2834/ 2 weeks which is approximately 70% of your pre tax salary (4038 dollars); so you pay about 30% taxes

CRNA salary:

150k per year. we have 26 biweekly paychecks so 150000/26 paychecks= 5767/ 2 weeks = 5767/ 36 hours= approximately 80 dollars/hour

if you work 48 hours as a CRNA then your salary for 1 week will be as follow:

40 hours x 80 dollars = 3200

8 hours overtime x 120 dollars (1.5 of your base pay)= 960 dollars

Total salary for 48 hours (1 week)= 4160 dollars

That means biweekly pay is 8320 dollars before tax (since you pay 30% in taxes as you provided the information, your take home for 2 weeks is 5824 dollars)

so in conclusion the comparison of the RN salay and CRNA is follow after taxes per pay check (biweekly)

RN biweekly (2834 dollars): CRNA biweekly (5824 dollars)

It comes to 2000 more dollars per paycheck; which is 26 paychecks per year x 2000 dollars = 52000 dollars per year

You also mentioned that you are married. If your wife works and you can cover your monthly expense from her salary then you will have to take loans for only tuition fees (which you will be able to get it from federal government; in addition, you will have 10 years to pay it back at good interest rate). There are many scholarships are avaliable through the CRNA schools as well.

It is big career change; there are many advancement opportunities as a CRNA (for example: you can work as a part-time professor and they will cover most of the tuition loans for you); You can get Doctor in Nurse Anesthesia as well; they will have all programs in to Doctorate by 2025 not 2015; therefore, if you get your master in nurse anesthesia before 2025, you will not require to get Doctorate (this is the information I received from Director of our program).

I hope this information helped you in deciding your career; have a good luck.

Riburn3, BSN, MSN, APRN, NP · Aug 3, 2015

Supply and demand is a driving factor for all professions, not just CRNA's. If pay is bad in your area, relocate, otherwise don't complain about your decision to take on hundreds of thousands in debt and remain in a saturated market. A close friend that just graduated from TCU started just a few months ago at $220k with overtime opportunities aplenty in a large Texas metro. He is originally from NorCal and stayed in Texas because he's not a fool and knows how to do a market analysis.

The OP is absolutely correct in assuming that CRNA school can be a financially detrimental decision, especially if you aren't flexible with your career options. It can also be the best financial decision you've ever made if you know how to play the market well. I know personally that when I got into CRNA school, it was very hard for me to stomach giving up a well paying RN job while also taking on tons of debt. It's like you're digging yourself a double hole.

AllIcanbe · Aug 3, 2015

ICUman; maybe crna is just not for you because on average; crnas make more than NPs( assuming same no of hours worked) i have seen NPs offered pay in the range of 80k without benefits For APRN; I think that is just terrible!

Riburn3, BSN, MSN, APRN, NP · Aug 3, 2015

ICUman; maybe crna is just not for you because on average; crnas make more than NPs( assuming same no of hours worked) i have seen NPs offered pay in the range of 80k without benefits For APRN; I think that is just terrible!

Very true, it's sad how much pay can vary for NP's around the country. Although this thread has opened my eyes to the varying pay of CRNA's around the country. I honestly didn't know new CRNA's were doing worse than $175k. In both cases market saturation seem to be playing a huge role.

I think this thread is valuable in showing potential APRN's of all colors to do a cost benefit analysis of going back to school. Potential CRNA's need to be especially careful when they are the only APRN discipline where schools require their students to stop working. Sure 80k for an NP isn't that great, but neither is $150k for the CRNA with that much in students loans sitting around.

AllIcanbe · Aug 3, 2015

I agree; I was in disbelief when I read some people pay abt $1ook for tuition. The CRNA I shadowed is female; worked through her crna program and her program was abt 14k. That same program now is abt 36k.

I believe a lot more people are aware and are getting more education. Who would believe a pharmacist 6 month out of school is yet to find a job? Couple law schools closed as well. I am afraid nursing in general including BSN might be heading that same direction.

Riburn3, BSN, MSN, APRN, NP · Aug 3, 2015

I agree; I was in disbelief when I read some people pay abt $1ook for tuition. The CRNA I shadowed is female; worked through her crna program and her program was abt 14k. That same program now is abt 36k.
I believe a lot more people are aware and are getting more education. Who would believe a pharmacist 6 month out of school is yet to find a job? Couple law schools closed as well. I am afraid nursing in general including BSN might be heading that same direction.

Sounds like your friend went to a public school and paid in state tuition, which is awesome. I would encourage everyone to try that route if possible for essentially any nursing degree. Not to knock any of the great private schools out there, but school pedigree seems to play a very small role in our field when it comes to employment in comparison to experience. 36k for CRNA school is an absolute steal compared to programs where tuition alone is touching on 6 figures. I know the UT system CRNA program quotes similar numbers for their in states residents, and thats with cost of living factored in.

Law school is a whole different animal, where schools have recently been busted for inflating post graduate job statistics. Pedigree is also a much larger factor for lawyers chasing the small percentage of Big Law jobs available.

All nursing in general, from LVN to PhD is driven by demand. In another thread I talked about how new nurses in New York and California are struggling to find jobs, yet those states are offering the most lucrative travel contracts for experienced nurses. Experience is at a very high premium. I've made several friends here in Texas that came here as new nurses just because there were critical and good hospital jobs available to new grads. Once they got their feet wet, they move back to California getting jobs that would have shunned then only a couple of years ago. You have to be flexible if you want to be successful in healthcare.

Nurseboy1 · Aug 14, 2015

There are a few NPs working in my ICU. I think that speaks for itself. I agree that applicants would drop like flies if it didn't pay as well as it does. People flock to money and strive for more though. It's human nature. If NP excites you, then go for it. I actually almost started an NP program. I'm not sure if I see myself enjoying the role though. As a NP, you're not very hands on, and your job is to basically listen to people's problems, and try to fix them. I listen to enough problems as a staff nurse. Anesthesia is more task-based, which I like. You preop them, intubate them, induce them, keep the pt hemodynamically stable and pain free, and then extubate. Next. I like the fact that it's a little more hands on. I think working as an NP in the ICU would be awesome, but unfortunately we only have FNP and Women's health programs locally. Clinic work just doesn't excite me. Being a guy, women's health doesn't do it for me either. I would honestly be a CRNA for the same pay if tuition weren't so high. I find it to be a lot more fascinating than being a bedside RN. If I do this CRNA thing as a civilian, I just want to be able to make sure that I can at least maintain the same standard of living while paying back my loans.

I am an ACNP in the ICU, I'm very hands on with the patients. I can intubate, place central lines, swans, A-lines, do bronchoscopy, chest tubes, LPs. And my salary is nothing to sneeze at. Just pointing out that there are places where NPs can have a pretty wide practice