I work every day with a nurse anaesthetist putting my patients to sleep, and have done so for seven years now. When/if I ever need anaesthesia, she will be my choice. This is not “Nurse Ratshed” giving anaesthesia, these are very highly trained individuals. In my state (NH) they have long been allowed to work “unsupervised”—not that I’ve seen ones who need supervision. I’ve actually had far more trouble with MD anaesthesiologists than with CRNAs. I think many of you here have a mistaken idea of the qualifications of CRNAs.
I don’t care whether the person putting me to sleep is MD or CRNA; I just care whether they’re good at what they do. I’ve seen great CRNAs and lousy MDs.
I worked in a university teaching hospital for years. I now have very severe “White Coat” syndrome. I had an ICU nurse colleague who was turned down on a CRNA program application. She would have been fabulous. Contrast that with my niece who is a new MD and regularly turned off the fish tank heater and killed fish because she couldn’t hear the tv. I don’t want to malign an entire profession, but the focus of doctors and nurses is different. I’d rather trust myself to a nurse.