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CRNAs at a glance National Nurse Anesthetist Week Jan. 21 - 27 Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) are licensed professional registered nurses who have obtained, through additional education and successful completion of a national examination, certification as anesthesia nursing specialists.    CRNAs are qualified to make independent judgments relative to all aspects of anesthesia care, based on their education, licensure, and certification.   Nurses were the first professional group to provide anesthesia services in the United States. Established in the 1800s, nurse anesthesia has since become recognized as the first clinical nursing specialty.   Since WWI, nurse anesthetists have been the principal anesthesia providers in combat areas of every war in which the United States has been engaged.   Today, CRNAs working with anesthesiologists and physicians such as surgeons, administer approximately 65 percent of all anesthetics given each year in the United States. CRNAs provide anesthesia for every age and type of patient, utilizing the full scope of anesthesia techniques, drugs and technology which characterize contemporary anesthesia practice. They work in every setting in which anesthesia is delivered: tertiary care centers, community hospitals, labor and delivery rooms, ambulatory surgical centers, diagnostic suites and physician offices. CRNAs are the sole anesthesia providers in approximately two thirds of all rural hospitals, affording anesthesia and resuscitative services to those facilities for surgical, obstetrical and trauma care.   At MUSC there are approximately 35 CRNAs on staff. They administer anesthesia in every setting in which the Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Medicine is involved. Nurse anesthetists function as a part of the anesthesia care team (SCT), which are comprised of an anesthesiologist and a CRNA or an anesthesiologist and an anesthesia resident.   The educational preparation of CRNAs is conducted in approximately 90 accredited programs throughout the United States. These programs are offered at the graduate level in or in association with traditional institutions of higher education, most commonly in schools of nursing or health sciences.   The educational curriculum in the anesthesia specialty ranges from 24 to 36-months in a masters level program that integrates academic and clinical study. Admission requirements to a nurse anesthesia educational program include: Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) or other appropriate baccalaureate degree License as a Registered Nurse (RN) Minimum of one year of acute care nursing experience (usually an adult ICU setting)   Graduates of accredited nurse anesthesia educational programs must meet all requirements prescribed by the Council on Certification of Nurse Anesthetists in order to write the national exam for certification as a nurse anesthetist. Those who successfully pass this rigorous exam are qualified to practice as a CRNA. Recertification, which includes practice and continuing education requirements, must be met every two years. From the commencement of the professional education in nursing, a minimum of seven years of education and training is involved in the preparation of a CRNA.   For more information, contact the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists at: AANA, Public Relations Department, 222 South Prospect Avenue, Park Ridge, ILL 60068-4001 or call (847) 692-7050. Information may also be obtained by accessing its Web site at <http://www.aana.com>. Editor's note: Information submitted by Tammy Lamont, CRNA, MUSC Department of Anesthesia.