¶ … competition increasing in every field including nursing, it is not desirable for any professional nurse to just be content with a bachelor's degree in Nursing. It should be noted here that as the subspecialties and subfields are evolving with betterment and improvement in the field of nursing and healthcare, the responsibility of the nurses is being further increased with respect to their professional competence. After my attaining my bachelor's degree in nursing, I would now like to go on to become a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetics, for which I would like to explore the universities that are offering this program. As a part of this paper, I would include some of the top universities where I plan to apply and get in to complete my degree as a certified nurse anesthetic. However, there are some aspects that I need to consider before applying to these universities, pertaining to the cost and availability of seats.
Why CRNA?
Many would question as to what is the main inspiration for going for CRNA. A nightmare like surgery has been converted into a miracle just because of anesthesia as it has made all surgeries pain-free and this treatment easy for the patients as well as the doctors. It is important to note here that nurse anesthetics are one of the first healthcare providers that decided to dedicate a special department for anesthesia back in the 1800s. The role of nurses in anesthesia started when nurses would give anesthesia to the wounded soldiers who would get injured during the Civil War. In today's world where the field of healthcare has improved several-folds since the 1800s, Certified Registered Nurses Anesthetics are mastered nurses that have been prepared in this advanced field and these nurses have the privilege to enjoy a greater degree of professional respect and autonomy...
Among the several roles of CRNAs, the provision of anesthesia to patients in almost every practice setting is including in the most important ones. It is quite interesting to note here that nurses are prepared for different types of procedures and surgeries as the type and duration of anesthesia varies according to the procedure being done. Another reason why CRNAs are being valued is that they are the only providers of anesthesia in hospitals in the rural settings and are the sole providers of anesthesia to males as well as the females that are serving in the
Armed Forces of the United States (Aana.com, 2014).
The first CRNA was acknowledged as an advanced professional nurse in the year 1956. In the United States alone, CRNAs are known to safely administer above 34 million anesthetics to patients every year, being anesthesia professionals, according to the Practice Profile Survey carried out in the 2012 by the American Association of Nurse Anesthetics.
As it has already been mentioned above, CRNAs are considered to be the sole primary providers of anesthesia in rural American settings and it is because of them that healthcare facilities are not being compromised in these areas where surgical, obstetrical, trauma stabilization and pain management services are to be provided to the deserving patients. In some states of the country, CRNAs are named as being the only providers of anesthesia in almost all of the rural hospitals.
According to a report that was published in the year 1999 by the Institute of
Medicine, the advancement in anesthesia care has been improved about 50 times as compared to what it was in the 1980s. Several studies have concluded that there is no compromise in the quality of healthcare that is provided by the CRNAs when compared with their physician counterparts in the field.
Apart from the primary responsible anesthetic professionals in the rural settings, CRNAs also have the responsibility to provide anesthesia to the patients in collaboration with anesthesiologists, surgeons, dentists, podiatrists and other qualified healthcare professionals. The
administration of anesthesia by a nurse anesthetist is considered to be a recognized and acknowledge part of the
nursing practice; meanwhile when it is safely administered by an anesthesiologist it is considered to be a part of practice of medicine. Irrespective of the professional background, whether anesthesia is being administered by a doctor or a nurse, anesthesia professionals are trained in the same way when it comes to the administration and provision of anesthesia (Bankert, 1989).
In the year 2001, the federal physician supervision rule pertaining to nurse anesthetics…
