Nurse anesthetists and their journey to where they are now Nurses have played an important role in medicine over the years. When people hear the word “nurse,” they often think of those who receive care and education in hospitals. Many people don't think about other branches of nursing such as nurse anesthetism. A nurse anesthetist has contributed greatly to the administration of anesthetics for approximately 150 years. Nurse anesthetists struggled with autonomy and the ability to practice without being supervised by an anesthetist. They also used to be limited to working in specific areas, but now work in many inpatient and outpatient settings. Nurse anesthetists have come a long way and are conducting research and helping to improve the world of anesthesia care. Overall, the career of the nurse anesthetist has grown from the 1980s to today and will continue to grow and improve. The certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA) started working at the hospital doing what no one else wanted to do. Hagelhout and Plaus (2013) write about who administered anesthesia in the 1800s. Anesthesia work was delegated to students, nurses, newly graduated doctors, specialists in other fields, and even janitors were called upon to be etherizers (Nagelhout & Plaus 2013). One of the reasons the profession of nurse anesthetist was created was to have consistency in who administered the anesthesia because then the intern would do it. The interns could not be trusted because they would focus on the surgeries instead of the patient. The nurses had the drive and dedication to administer anesthesia without being distracted. In the beginning CRNAs administered anesthesia in hospitals and also administered anesthesia to the wound… middle of the paper… was conducted. CRNAs have not just focused their research on anesthesia, but focus on a wide variety, from education to economics. This shows that CRNAs not only want to contribute to the improvement of anesthesia care, but also everything in between that shows they care about the patient as a whole. Reference American Association of Nurse Anesthetists. Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist Overview. Retrieved from http://www.aana.com/ceandeducation/becomeacrna/Pages/Nurse-Anesthetists-at-a-Glance.aspxNagelhout, John J. & Plaus, Karen. Nurse anesthesia. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=7KKiX2qiQS8C&dq=nurse+anesthetist&lr=&source=gbs_navlinks_sRiley, Cindy (2012, September). Pain knows no boundaries. USA Today magazine. Retrieved from http://doc.mediaplanet.com/all_projects/11025.pdf