Nurse Anesthetists
Health ScienceO*NET 29-1151.00United States
Administer anesthesia, monitor patient's vital signs, and oversee patient recovery from anesthesia. May assist anesthesiologists, surgeons, other physicians, or dentists.
- Median annual earnings
- $237,895
- Projected change
- +12.4%
- Typical education
- Doctoral degree or more
- Employment
- 56.77K jobs
50th percentile, United States
2025 to 2035
55.6% of the workforce
Growing to 63.84K by 2035
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These courses and certificates are connected through catalog career relationships and Lightcast skill tags.
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The work
What nurse anesthetists do
Tasks reported for this occupation, ordered by how often they come up in the role.
- Manage patients' airway or pulmonary status, using techniques such as endotracheal intubation, mechanical ventilation, pharmacological support, respiratory therapy, and extubation.
- Respond to emergency situations by providing airway management, administering emergency fluids or drugs, or using basic or advanced cardiac life support techniques.
- Monitor patients' responses, including skin color, pupil dilation, pulse, heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, ventilation, or urine output, using invasive and noninvasive techniques.
- Select, order, or administer anesthetics, adjuvant drugs, accessory drugs, fluids or blood products as necessary.
- Select, prepare, or use equipment, monitors, supplies, or drugs for the administration of anesthetics.
- Perform or manage regional anesthetic techniques, such as local, spinal, epidural, caudal, nerve blocks and intravenous blocks.
- Assess patients' medical histories to predict anesthesia response.
- Develop anesthesia care plans.
- Obtain informed consent from patients for anesthesia procedures.
- Perform pre-anesthetic screenings, including physical evaluations and patient interviews, and document results.
- Prepare prescribed solutions and administer local, intravenous, spinal, or other anesthetics, following specified methods and procedures.
- Calibrate and test anesthesia equipment.
- Administer post-anesthesia medications or fluids to support patients' cardiovascular systems.
- Evaluate patients' post-surgical or post-anesthesia responses, taking appropriate corrective actions or requesting consultation if complications occur.
- Select and prescribe post-anesthesia medications or treatments to patients.
- Perform or evaluate the results of diagnostic tests, such as radiographs (x-rays) and electrocardiograms (EKGs).
- Select, order, or administer pre-anesthetic medications.
- Insert peripheral or central intravenous catheters.
- Insert arterial catheters or perform arterial punctures to obtain arterial blood samples.
- Discharge patients from post-anesthesia care.
- Read current literature, talk with colleagues, and participate in professional organizations or conferences to keep abreast of developments in nursing.
- Request anesthesia equipment repairs, adjustments, or safety tests.
- Instruct nurses, residents, interns, students, or other staff on topics such as anesthetic techniques, pain management and emergency responses.
- Disassemble and clean anesthesia equipment.
Pay and outlook
What the job pays and where it is heading
Annual earnings range
Reported earnings by percentile, United States
- 10th percentile
- $149,691
- 25th percentile
- $202,282
- 50th percentile
- $237,895
- 75th percentile
- $298,513
- 90th percentile
- $346,028
The gold marker shows the median. Half earn more than $237,895 and half earn less.
Employment outlook
2025 to 2035 projection
+12.4%faster than average
202556,773 jobs
2035 projected63,836 jobs
7,063 more positions over the decade, before replacement hiring.
Preparation
Education levels
What people currently working in the career hold. These are not entry requirements.
- Doctoral degree or more
- 55.6%
- Master's or Professional degree
- 44.4%
Skills
Skills employers ask for
Technical skills appearing most often in job postings for this occupation.
How the work gets done
Core competencies
Broad capabilities associated with strong performance in this occupation.
- Reading Comprehension
- Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
- Critical Thinking
- Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
- Complex Problem Solving
- Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Active Listening
- Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Speaking
- Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Monitoring
- Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Active Learning
- Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Service Orientation
- Actively looking for ways to help people.
- Science
- Using scientific rules and methods to solve problems.
- Social Perceptiveness
- Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Coordination
- Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Writing
- Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Learning Strategies
- Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
- Time Management
- Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- Instructing
- Teaching others how to do something.
- Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
- Mathematics
- Using mathematics to solve problems.
- Systems Evaluation
- Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
- Systems Analysis
- Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
In the market
Job titles and employers
Recent job postings in United StatesCommon job titles
- 01Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists16,365 postings
- 02Locums Tenens1,840 postings
- 03Anesthesiologists1,356 postings
- 04Locum Tenens Certified Nurse Anesthetists814 postings
- 05Nurse Anesthetists491 postings
- 06Certified Nurse Anesthetists473 postings
- 07Locum Tenens Anesthesiologists397 postings
- 08Technical Stream Opportunity Managers280 postings
- 09Hospitalists195 postings
- 10Anesthesia Assistants181 postings
- 11Anesthesiology Medical Directors162 postings
- 12Anesthetists162 postings
- 13Certified Nurse Anesthetists Locums153 postings
- 14Assignment Managers115 postings
- 15Independent Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists108 postings
- 16Compensation Managers98 postings
- 17Locum Tenens Anesthesia Physicians83 postings
- 18Anesthesiologist Assistants76 postings
- 19Anesthesiology Residents76 postings
- 20Outpatient Surgery Registered Nurses72 postings
Top employers
- 01NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital1,445 postings
- 02Practicematch1,194 postings
- 03LocumTenens.com1,178 postings
- 04Aya Locums1,023 postings
- 05Yale New Haven Health996 postings
- 06AMN Healthcare878 postings
- 07Hayman Daugherty Associates725 postings
- 08Cone Health599 postings
- 09Weatherby Healthcare499 postings
- 10Icon477 postings
- 11CompHealth404 postings
- 12Memorial Health Illinois370 postings
- 13VISTA Staffing Solutions356 postings
- 14Aya Healthcare348 postings
- 15Odyssey Locums LTD322 postings
- 16Envision Physician Services313 postings
- 17Vituity270 postings
- 18Palm Careers247 postings
- 19Kaiser Permanente243 postings
- 20Avera Health235 postings
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