Why Do Crna Gets Paid So Much?

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have anyone ever check out the salary chart for certified registered nurse anethesia, they get pay ALOT ! more then a pharmacist but why? they only have master degree....and NPS are the same! but way less then theM! http://www.crnajobs.com/crna-careers/main.aspx if you click the 2007 salary report they are getting paid like 120-190k a year WHAT! and NP ranges from 80-110k!

Specializes in Med-Surg/Peds/O.R./Legal/cardiology.

Tazzi,

NP's are not like doc in a boxes compared to CRNA's. OUCH!! Both roles require much skill and knowledge and I respect each. They both carry a load of responsibility in their respective areas and deserve every cent they make. ;)

ebear

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Specializes in Critical Care,Recovery, ED.

The question should not be why are CRNA's paid so much but why are other nursing career paths paid so little? CRNA's are well worth what they are paid and in fact maybe paid to little in some areas of the country.

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Specializes in Anesthesia.
Also CRNA's if acting as a sub-contractor have to supply their own malpractice insurance............did you check out the premiums on that as well?

As of 2011 CRNA's will need to have a PhD to carry a certification.............or so I have been told

CRNAs will have to have their DNP/DNAP by 2025 for those entering practice at that time. DNP/DNAP is totally different than Phd. CRNAs before that time will be grandfathered in.

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Specializes in Plastic Surgery, ER.

Good article deepz!

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Specializes in Peds/Neo CCT,Flight, ER, Hem/Onc.
We get paid more because we are worth more.

Not that I begrudge you the salary you make but geez I'll have to keep this in mind while I'm resuscitating somebody's kid in the middle of nowhere.

Sorry if I sound crabby...long night!

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Specializes in FNP, Peds, Epilepsy, Mgt., Occ. Ed.

I don't think the OP has a really good idea of what CRNAs and NPs actually do. He makes it sound as if he thinks it's "just" a matter of getting a Master's degree. This isn't to denigrate a Master's degree in anything, by the way. They don't give them out just for showing up in class!

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Specializes in FNP, Peds, Epilepsy, Mgt., Occ. Ed.
Not that I begrudge you the salary you make but geez I'll have to keep this in mind while I'm resuscitating somebody's kid in the middle of nowhere.

Sorry if I sound crabby...long night!

I think you misunderstand what CRNA2007 meant.

One of the longstanding problems in nursing is the fact that nursing care is generally considered to be an expense, not a revenue generator. That's not true for CRNAs or NPs. Those services can be billed.

Economically, considering how things are currently set up and done, CRNAs are worth more to employers because they bring in money.

When you're resuscitating someone's kid in the middle of nowhere, you are at that moment the most important and most valuable person in the world to that kid and that parent and I don't think any nurse would take that away from you.

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Specializes in ER/SICU.
Not that I begrudge you the salary you make but geez I'll have to keep this in mind while I'm resuscitating somebody's kid in the middle of nowhere.

The reason anesthesia pays more. You talk in terms of resuscitating somebody's kid. I talk about taking a healthy living breathing child and rendering them unconscious and insensible while using airways, tubes and mechanical ventilators to breathe for the patient, and maintain hemodynamics with IV fluids, drugs, and other interventions.

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Not that I begrudge you the salary you make but geez I'll have to keep this in mind while I'm resuscitating somebody's kid in the middle of nowhere.

Please read ocankhe's comment for something that might put your qualms into perspective:

The question should not be why are CRNA's paid so much but why are other nursing career paths paid so little? CRNA's are well worth what they are paid and in fact maybe paid to little in some areas of the country.

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Specializes in Peds/Neo CCT,Flight, ER, Hem/Onc.
One of the longstanding problems in nursing is the fact that nursing care is generally considered to be an expense, not a revenue generator. That's not true for CRNAs or NPs. Those services can be billed.

Excellent point. From a revenue viewpoint I can see how they could be considered more valuable as we all suspect what the true "bottom line" is in healthcare.

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Specializes in Peds/Neo CCT,Flight, ER, Hem/Onc.
I talk about taking a healthy living breathing child and rendering them unconscious and insensible while using airways, tubes and mechanical ventilators to breathe for the patient, and maintain hemodynamics with IV fluids, drugs, and other interventions.

While I agree that from a revenue standpoint the CRNA could be considered more important but I fail to see the difference from a care standpoint. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely admire what CRNA's have to go through to even get the certification, you guys are more woman than I but as an earlier poster stated I think this really highlights the problem that comparitively there are other nursing paths that are grossly underpaid. For example, guess what I did last night...read the bold print above. Oh and we also rendered the child unconscious and insensible, the only difference is they were sick to begin with and we were doing it outside of the hospital. Now, do I think that makes me worth more than the PICU nurse who took the patient? Absolutely not, but...I am required to have more certifications, more education, more annual competencies, more responsibility and a more dangerous work environment yet we are paid regular nursing salary which at my hospital is significantly lesss than the surrounding areas. If the OP was originally commenting on soley their monetary worth to the hospital then she was absolutely correct and I took it wrong because I was in a crabby mood...for that I apologize. But the follow up posts weren't speaking of revenue they were speaking of what CRNA's do and I don't think we can qualify which nursing career is more or less important. Nor should we.

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Specializes in SRNA.

This is not true. This is only a recent position of the AANA, who of course do not control all of the pieces of the puzzle that would make the DNP hullabaloo a reality. It is also completely unknown if the grandfathering would exist (probably will) or in what form it would take. So, in other words, there is some serious interest in making the DNP required but we are very far away from being able to claim a date and a million miles away from the specifics of how all of it would work.

-S

CRNAs will have to have their DNP/DNAP by 2025 for those entering practice at that time. DNP/DNAP is totally different than Phd. CRNAs before that time will be grandfathered in.
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