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Nurse Anesthetists

Also called: Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA), Nurse Anesthetist

What they do:
Administer anesthesia, monitor patient's vital signs, and oversee patient recovery from anesthesia. May assist anesthesiologists, surgeons, other physicians, or dentists. Must be registered nurses who have specialized graduate education.
On the job, you would:
  • Manage patients' airway or pulmonary status using techniques such as endotracheal intubation, mechanical ventilation, pharmacological support, respiratory therapy, and extubation.
  • Assess patients' medical histories to predict anesthesia response.
  • Prepare prescribed solutions and administer local, intravenous, spinal, or other anesthetics following specified methods and procedures.

Knowledge

Health
  • medicine and dentistry
Math and Science
  • biology
  • chemistry
Business
  • customer service
Arts and Humanities
  • English language

Skills

Basic Skills
  • listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions
  • reading work related information
Problem Solving
  • noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it
Social
  • looking for ways to help people
  • understanding people's reactions

Abilities

Verbal
  • listen and understand what people say
  • communicate by speaking
Ideas and Logic
  • notice when problems happen
  • make general rules or come up with answers from lots of detailed information
Attention
  • pay attention to something without being distracted
  • do two or more things at the same time
Visual Understanding
  • quickly compare groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things

Personality

People interested in this work like activities that include
ideas, thinking, and figuring things out.
They do well at jobs that need:
  • Attention to Detail
  • Stress Tolerance
  • Dependability
  • Integrity
  • Analytical Thinking
  • Independence

Technology

You might use software like this on the job:

Medical software
  • eClinicalWorks software
  • EDImis Anesthesia Manager

Education

Education: (rated 5 of 5)
master's degree
usually needed

Get started on your career:

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Job Outlook

Bright Outlook
New job opportunities are very likely in the future.
Salary
$65,950
per year, on average
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See more details at O*NET OnLine about nurse anesthetists.