Nurse Anesthetist Salary

A nurse anesthetist is a nurse specialty that is involved in the administration of anesthesia. In the US, this profession requires a graduate-level education in anesthesia that is overseen by the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists, or AANA.  The designation for the completion of this level of education is called a CRNA, or Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist.

Not only is this the oldest nurse specialty group in America but it is one of the most financially rewarding nurse specialties. According to the yearly AMGA Medical Group Compensation and Financial Survey, the median annual nurse anesthetist salary is $157,724.

According the the AANA 2009 Practice Profile Survey, there are approximately 40,000 nurse anesthetists in the U.S. and they administer roughly 32 million anesthetics to patients each year. Nearly 65% of CRNAs practice in collaboration with Anesthesiologists while the remainder practice independently. Nearly 41 % of all CRNAs are men, which is a much larger percentage of male nurses than the profession as a whole, where 10% of nurses are men.