What exactly does a nurse anesthetist do?

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What exactly do they do and what steps do you hard to take to become one?

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Specializes in Med Surg - Renal.
What exactly do they do and what steps do you hard to take to become one?

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The answer to the first part of your question is, "They make a lot of money" and the answer to the second part is something no one ever looks up before they make it their stated career goal.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

Google is your friend..

A nurse anesthetist is a nurse who specializes in the administration of anesthesia.

In the United States, a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) is an advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) who has acquired graduate-level education and board certification in anesthesia. The American Association of Nurse Anesthetists' (AANA) is the national association that represents more than 92% of the 40,000 nurse anesthetists in the United States. Certification is governed by the National Boards of Certification and Recertification of Nurse Anesthetists (NBCRNA). Education is governed by the Council on Accreditation (COA) of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs.

.....American Association of Nurse Anesthetists
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Specializes in CRNA, CCRN- Surgical/Cardiothoracic ICU.
What exactly do they do and what steps do you hard to take to become one?

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A CRNA does everything that an Anesthesiologist does except for write orders. CRNA's are advanced practice nurses with a Master's degree. It will be changing to a Doctorate degree very soon and some schools are already switching over to this. So basically, you will monitor patients during their surgery or other procedures while they are under general anesthesia. They do everything from inducing the patients to sleep, intubating, placing central lines, peripheral nerve blocks, spinals, epidurals and making judement calls on what drugs to give and when to give them.

Steps to become a certified registered nurse anesthetist........

1. Shadow a CRNA for a few shifts (this is pretty much mandatory w/ the interview committee)

2. Hold a BSN from an accredited nursing school

3. GPA of 3.5 or better (some schools will take a little less, but you must prove you are capable of handling Grad school by taking some core grad courses before applying to a CRNA program.)

4. good undergrad science grades

5. have atleast a minimum of 1 to 2 years of critical care experience in a high acuity ICU (the more experience, the better).

6. some programs are now requiring applicants to have credentials behind their name such as CCRN (critical care registered nurse).

7. take your GRE to get into Grad school (some schools will accept the MAT in-place of the GRE).

8. sit for an interview with the CRNA directors and admissions committee (you will be asked clinical questions, critical care scenarios, math questions or maybe have to take a critical care exam...depending on the school).

Hundreds of people apply and only 75 to 100 will actually get an interview. Out of those 75, only 20 to 30 will get accepted each year. And if you get accepted, you can kiss 2.5 years of your life goodbye.

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Specializes in Anesthesia.

Soduko.....

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Specializes in Nurse Anesthesia, ICU, ED.
Soduko.....

i prefer words with friends

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