Healthcare practitioners
Nurse anesthetist
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.
Median pay
$236,590
Growth to 2035
+10%
faster than average
Openings a year
2,400
Time to qualify*
2 years
* From a bachelor's degree in an unrelated field.
Pay
Nurse anesthetist
Getting in
- Typical entry education
- Master's degree
- On-the-job training
- None
- Prior experience
- None
What the work is like
Dealing with the public
Unpleasant or angry people
Time pressure
Cost of a mistake
Freedom to make decisions
Repeating the same tasks
Time sitting
Time standing
Hazardous conditions
Exposure to disease
Nurse anesthetist: 63% usually work over 40 hours a week
Core tasks
- Manage patients' airway or pulmonary status, using techniques such as endotracheal intubation, mechanical ventilation, pharmacological support, respiratory therapy, and extubation.
- Respond to emergency situations by providing airway management, administering emergency fluids or drugs, or using basic or advanced cardiac life support techniques.
- Monitor patients' responses, including skin color, pupil dilation, pulse, heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, ventilation, or urine output, using invasive and noninvasive techniques.
- Select, order, or administer anesthetics, adjuvant drugs, accessory drugs, fluids or blood products as necessary.
- Select, prepare, or use equipment, monitors, supplies, or drugs for the administration of anesthetics.
- Assess patients' medical histories to predict anesthesia response.
- Perform or manage regional anesthetic techniques, such as local, spinal, epidural, caudal, nerve blocks and intravenous blocks.
- Develop anesthesia care plans.
Also called: Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) · Nurse Anesthetist · Staff Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (Staff CRNA) · Staff Nurse Anesthetist
Outlook and AI
Nurse anesthetists held 54,500 jobs in 2025. BLS projects 59,800 by 2035 (+10%, faster than average; all jobs: +3.5%).