Founded in 1931 and located in Park Ridge, Ill., the AANA is the professional organization for more than 44,000 Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) and student registered nurse anesthetists. As advanced practice nurses, CRNAs administer approximately 32 million anesthetics to patients in the United States each year and are the primary providers of anesthesia care in rural America. In some states, CRNAs are the sole anesthesia professionals in nearly 100 percent of the rural hospitals.