Education of Nurse Anesthetists in the United States - At a Glance

The minimum education and experience required to become a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) include:

• A baccalaureate or graduate degree in nursing or other appropriate major.
• An unencumbered license as a registered professional nurse and/or APRN in the United States or its territories.
• A minimum of one year full-time work experience, or its part-time equivalent, as a registered nurse in a critical care setting. The average experience of RNs entering nurse anesthesia educational programs is 2.9 years.
• Graduation with a minimum of a master’s degree from a nurse anesthesia educational program accredited by the Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs (COA). As of August 2019, there were 121 accredited nurse anesthesia programs in the United States and Puerto Rico, using more than 1,870 active clinical sites; 91 nurse anesthesia programs are approved to award doctoral degrees for entry into practice.
• Nurse anesthesia programs range from 24-51 months, depending on university requirements. Programs include clinical settings and experiences. Graduates of nurse anesthesia educational programs have an average of 9,369 hours of clinical experience.

It takes a minimum of 7-8.5 calendar years of education and experience to prepare a CRNA.

More than 2,400 student registered nurse anesthetists graduate each year and go on to pass the National Certification Examination to become CRNAs.

In 1990, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published findings indicating a growing need for additional nurse anesthetists. The present day workforce numbers nearly 54,000 CRNAs (including CRNAs and student registered nurse anesthetists).

Historical Background

Nurse anesthetists were among the first specialty nurses to require continuing education. The recertification program for nurse anesthetist is called the Continued Professional Certification (CPC) Program, which is administered by the National Board of Certification and Recertification for Nurse Anesthetists (NBCRNA) and is based on eight-year periods comprised of two 4-year cycles. It officially began on August 1, 2016. In addition to practice and license requirements, the CPC Program includes four main components: 60 Class A CE credits or traditional continuing education credits; 40 Class B credits or professional development activities; completion of Core Modules in four content areas, including airway management technique, applied clinical pharmacology, human physiology and pathophysiology, and anesthesia equipment and technology (recommended but not required); and pass a comprehensive examination every eight years.

The first organized program in nurse anesthesia education was offered in 1909.

The American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) implemented a certification program in 1945 and instituted mandatory recertification in 1978. The first certification examination was administered in 1945 to 92 candidates.

In 1952, the AANA established a mechanism for accreditation of nurse anesthesia educational programs that has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Education since 1955.

Recently, the AANA and the School of Nurse Anesthesia at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, began offering an advanced pain management fellowship to prepare CRNAs with the skills necessary to meet the pain management needs of Americans with chronic pain. The Advanced Pain Management Certificate Program is accredited by the COA, and graduates are eligible to take a certification examination on Non-Surgical Pain Management offered by the National Board of Certification and Recertification for Nurse Anesthetists.

For more information contact pr@aana.com

Last updated: August 8, 2019