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Texas has more than 5,400 Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) whose education, certification, and clinical experience have positively impacted our state through the delivery of safe, cost-effective, high-quality anesthesia care to Texans.
CRNAs have provided quality, cost-effective anesthesia care for more than 150 years
- The first anesthesia specialists were nurses who began providing anesthesia during the American Civil War; physicians did not begin specializing in anesthesia until decades later.
- CRNAs are qualified to practice independently of an anesthesiologist, provide the full range of anesthesia care, and administer all types of anesthesia.
- Studies show the standard of care and patient outcomes are the same whether anesthesia is provided by a CRNA working alone, a CRNA working with an anesthesiologist, or an anesthesiologist working alone.
CRNAs provide access to essential healthcare services
- CRNAs administer more than 50 million anesthetics to patients in the United States each year.
- Nurse anesthetists are the sole anesthesia providers in the majority of rural Texas counties.
- The majority of rural Texas hospitals rely solely on anesthesia delivered by CRNAs to ensure the provision of obstetrical, surgical, and trauma stabilization services.
- Military CRNAs continue to be the primary anesthesia providers in all theaters of operation.
CRNAs are highly educated, extensively trained advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs)
- Specialty anesthesia education for CRNAs is provided at 120 accredited programs throughout the United States, and each program offers a master’s or doctoral degree.
- Texas is home to five nurse anesthesia educational programs.
- A minimum of seven years of higher education and training is involved in the preparation of a CRNA.
- All nurse anesthetists must pass the National Certification Exam, and CRNAs are the only licensed anesthesia providers who must be board certified in anesthesia to practice.