A Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist is a Registered Nurse with extensive experience who has completed two or more years of intense postgraduate anesthesia training and passed a national written examination. Mandatory continuing education programs keep the CRNA competent and current in this very complex science.
More than 50 percent of all anesthesia in the United States is administered by CRNAs. Working in such diverse settings as hospital operating rooms, special procedure rooms, surgery centers, surgeon’s offices, and suites, CRNAs manage patients' vital functions during their surgeries. As certified practitioners of Advanced Cardiac Life Support, CRNAs are called to restore or maintain the respiratory functions of critically ill patients in hospitals and to transport these patients from one setting to another.
