Question for practicing CRNAs

Bottom line isn't what I think or you think, or any one thinks is fair. CRNA's are paid what the market will bear, period. That is currently going up, a trend I don't see reversing itself (though at some point it will top out) in the foreseeable future. That means that CRNA's are paid (based on a look at Gaswork.com last night) anywhere from about $90,000 to about $225,000 - $250,000. There are reasons for the variability.

"Are the salaries fair" isn't a valid question. The salaries are determined by market pressures, and fair does not enter into the equation.

Kevin McHugh

Edited to add: Those numbers do not include what a CRNA can make working locum tenens. However, locums trade off in having to provide their own benefits (health care, retirement, etc).

I think fair is a valid question. If market pressure dictated 25K a year for a skilled position that had tremendous life or death consequences ever day, I would call that not a fair wage. The question was not intended to make the respondents justify their salary. I intended to question if the risk vs. reward was close to equilibrium. With the risk being the stress of a job that result in patient's deaths at your hands (I have yet to meet a perfect human) and the reward being monetary.

Excuse my ignorance....What are the reasons for such a large variability? I'm still used to the old step increase way of living, regardless of where you work in the hospital. A step 5 clinical nurse II is a step 5 clinical nurse II regardless of where you work. Same pay, same benefits.

Just curious.

Donn C.

I am not a CRNA, so it's difficult to give a perspective when I do not practice the profession. However, I feel hospitals and insurance companies have come to realize how valuable CRNA's are in the operating room. Salaries and compensation have gone up substantially for CRNA's over the last several years, and I believe the sequential increase in compensation is a fair recognition for what CRNA's do in the anesthesia community. There are still others who do not compensate their CRNA's fairly, but the opportunity for fair compensation elsewhere outweighs this aspect proportionately.

Going in the direction Kevin went in, one could ask if professional basketball players receive fair compensation for what they do? Most people would say their enormous compensation is unfair when comparing what they do to say nurse anesthesia. It's all relative as far as I'm concerned.

Pete495

For the record, in no way would I want my anesthesia provider to be making under 100K a year. It is a fact that more times than not, you get what you pay for.

I also believe that a professional athlete that can negotiate 100M+ contract is entitled to every cent. People should get what the market bares.

I guess my lack of writing skills is coming out in my inability to express my real query.

Personally I know that $5.35/hr I will not be justly compensated to have the responsibility of a persons life in my hands. At $30.00/hr I might, at $90.00/hr I might, at $500.00/hr I probably would but do not know because I am not in that position yet. If a CRNA salary ends up being $500.00/hr because that is what the market will pay, I think that is great.

Slight change of topic, but for the same crowd.

What is the average retirement age for a practicing CRNA, is there a career progression into teaching or other field for those that have the skills but do not want the long hours in the operating room?

CRNAs that take their career into faculty positions usually do not do so at the end of a career because of the movement toward doctoral preparation as a requirement for program directors. The hours as an educator may not be as long in the OR but are long none the less since you are frequently involved in some aspect of the program even when not physically present in the hospital.