National CRNA Week Resources & Advocacy Guide (2022)

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By Matt Zbrog Reviewed By Jocelyn Blore Updated January 3, 2023 Editorial Values

“The benefit of CRNA week is that it brings to light what we have always considered the best-kept secret in healthcare. ​​With anesthesia, you meet your provider for maybe five minutes before you go back to sleep. And, while we are going to be there holding your hand as you go to sleep and sometimes in the recovery room, you never see that anesthesia provider again. So we are doing a very good job in a service that isn’t always seen.”

Scot Pettey Chair and Program Director, Department of Nurse Anesthesia at the Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center, Gonzaga University

The 23rd Annual National Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) Week will take place from January 22-28, 2023. Hosted by the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA), National CRNA Week is an annual celebration of the nation’s nearly 59,000 CRNAs and student registered nurse anesthetists, who collectively provide more than 45 million anesthetics every year. It’s also an opportunity to raise awareness about the CRNA profession and the advocacy issues that CRNAs are pursuing to better provide safe, cost-effective treatment to their patients. 

Nurse anesthetists have been providing anesthesia to patients in the US for over 150 years, dating back to the battlefields of the Civil War. Today, the CRNA credential identifies advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) who have completed graduate-level education and earned a high degree of autonomy within the profession. CRNA services include pre-anesthesia evaluation, administering anesthetics, monitoring and interpreting a patient’s vital signs, and managing a patient throughout surgery.

CRNAs provide anesthetics to patients in every practice setting and for every type of surgery and procedure. They also play a critical role in serving rural and veteran populations. In some states, CRNAs are the sole anesthesia professionals in rural hospitals, and nurse anesthesia predominates in veteran hospitals and the US Armed Forces. CRNAs ensure patient access to care at a cost-effective rate, too: nurse anesthesia care is 25 percent more affordable than the next least-costly anesthesia delivery model.

Researchers studying anesthesia safety have found no differences in care between CRNAs and anesthesiologists. CRNA care is safe, cost-effective, and a critical resource for rural and veteran communities. But barriers remain to unlocking the profession’s full potential, and CRNAs are banding together to make their voices heard on these issues.

Read on to get a look at the top advocacy issues for CRNAs this year from an expert in this field and how you can get involved.