A certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA) is a type of advanced practice nurse who administers anesthesia in the United States. CRNAs account for approximately half of the anesthesia providers in the United States and are the main providers (80%) of anesthesia in rural America. Nurses have provided anesthesia care to patients for over 160 years, dating back to the American Civil War (1861–1865). The CRNA credential was formally established in 1956. As of 2025, CRNA schools issue a doctor of nursing anesthesia practice (DNAP) or doctor of nursing practice (DNP) degree to nurses who have completed a three-year program.

Scope of practice and practitioner oversight requirements vary between healthcare facility and state, with 27 states and Guam granting complete autonomy as of 2026. In states that have opted out of supervision, the Joint Commission and CMS recognize CRNAs as licensed independent practitioners. In states requiring supervision, CRNAs have liability separate from supervising practitioners and are able to administer anesthesia independently of physicians, such as anesthesiologists.

History American Civil War and the 19th century Among the first American nurses to provide anesthetics was Catherine S. Lawrence during the American Civil War. It was during the Second Battle of Bull Run in 1863 that she administered chloroform to wounded soldiers who needed emergency operations in the battlefield. Nevertheless, it still took several years for nurses to step forward and formally answer the call to provide anesthesia. Reasons for this delay included lack of training, the non-emergency nature of civilian surgical practice after the war was over, and the paucity of role models and sponsors. However, the wartime concept of nurses providing anesthesia care gradually took root as surgeons trained and encouraged nurses to take on this important role.American Association of Nurse Anaesthetists (2007). AANA History: Hand in Hand with Nurse Anesthesia. Retrieved May 26, 2007 from http://www.aana.com/75th/timeline1844.aspx

Catholic nuns played an important role in the training of nurses and also in anesthesia. The earliest recorded nurse to specialize in anesthesia was Sister Mary Bernard Sheridan, a Catholic nun who practiced in 1877 at St. Vincent's Hospital in Erie, Pennsylvania. Her influence spread throughout the Midwest, and many other Catholic nuns who were also nurses began training to administer anesthesia. Nuns of the Third Order of the Hospital Sisters of St Francis from Münster established a community in Springfield, Illinois, and on June 22, 1879, they founded St John's Hospital.Thatcher, V.S. (1953) History of Anesthesia, With Emphasis on the Nurse Specialist. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company, p. 54. At St John's, the administration of chloroform and ether was taught to the nurses by surgeons, and many of the Franciscan Sisters were assigned as anesthetists throughout the Midwest. Nurse anesthesia became “undoubtedly a prevailing practice in many Catholic hospitals”.Thatcher, V.S. (1953) History of Anesthesia, With Emphasis on the Nurse Specialist. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company, p. 54-67.Bankert, M. (1989) Watchful Care; A History of America's Nurse Anesthetists. New York: The Continuum Publishing Company. p. 25-26.

In 1883, Minnesota was devastated by a tornado. Mother Alfred Moes and the Sisters of Saint Francis proposed building a hospital to aid the sick and injured in Southern Minnesota. However, they stipulated that William Worrall Mayo (1819-1911) and his sons work at the hospital. The Mayos agreed, and in 1889, St Mary's Hospital opened with 27 beds. Although Catholic nuns seemed to be the most influential force in teaching nurses to administer anesthesia in the late 1800s, it was William W. Mayo who should be credited for promoting the popularity of nurse anesthesia practice. Mayo and his sons William J. Mayo and Charles H. Mayo were well known for their surgical skills. Surgeons traveled from across the country to their clinic in Minnesota to observe operations and learn their surgical techniques. However, the visiting surgeons also took note of the nurses administering anesthesia at the head of the operating table.

One of the most well-known nurse anesthesia pioneers was Alice Magaw, who came to St Mary's Hospital in Rochester, Minnesota, in 1893. She was trained by the Graham sisters, Edith and Dinah, and began working as a nurse anesthetist for Charles H. Mayo, who bestowed on her the title of “Mother of Anesthesia” due to her natural aptitude and mastery of safe administration of open-drop ether. In addition to being skilled at anesthesia administration, Magaw documented and evaluated all her anesthesia procedures, culminating with a landmark article in nurse-anesthesia history. An even larger work (A Review of Over Fourteen Thousand Surgical Anesthesias) was published in 1906, reporting huge number of open-drop ether anesthetics, incredibly without a single fatality. Magaw's work highlighted the benefits of the trained anesthetist, allowing great advances in the practice of medicine. As the reputation and success of the Mayo Clinic spread, so did the renown of the Mayo Clinic nurse anesthetists.

The sustainability and historical longevity of the practice of nurse anesthesia can be attributed to excellent working relationships between nurse anesthetists and surgeons in these early years of the practice. Impressed by the provision of superior anesthesia by nurses at St Mary's, and following the example of the Mayo Clinic, prominent Cleveland surgeon George Washington Crile recruited Agatha Cobourg Hodgins as his personal anesthetist in 1908.

20th century and initial challenges

Several notable nurse anesthetist from the early 20th century are revered by their modern counterparts. Agnes McGee taught at the Oregon Health Science Center. Alice Hunt was appointed instructor in anesthesia with university rank at the Yale University School of Medicine beginning in 1922 and continuing for 26 years.Thatcher, V.S. (1953) History of Anesthesia, With Emphasis on the Nurse Specialist. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company, p. 101-102. She authored the 1949 book Anesthesia, Principles and Practice, likely the first nurse anesthesia textbook.

The first challenge to the nurse's right to administer anesthesia came in 1911 from Francis Hoeffer McMechan, a native Cincinnati physician, who felt that the field of anesthesia should belong solely to physicians. McMechen challenged the practice of nurse anesthesia with the Ohio Medical Board, which along with Ohio State Attorney General ruled in 1916 that only a registered physician could administer anesthesia. Surgeons at the Lakeside Hospital in Cleveland, such as Crile, initially obeyed the ruling; however, in 1917, Crile and his supporters successfully lobbied the Ohio legislature to create an exemption within the Medical Practice Act for nurses who were educated appropriately to administer anesthesia under the supervision of a physician.Bankert, M. (1989) Watchful Care; A History of America's Nurse Anesthetists. New York: The Continuum Publishing Company, p. 107-123, 137-139.

Perhaps the most noteworthy challenge occurred in 1934, when nurse anesthetist Dagmar Nelson was charged by an anesthesiologist, William VaneChalmer-Francis, with practicing medicine and violating California Medical Practice by administering anesthesia without a license. The case went all the way to the California Supreme court, but Nelson was given a favorable ruling at each level of the case. The Dagmar Nelson case was won via precedents set by early nurse anesthetists. The California Supreme Court reasoned that Nelson's practice of anesthesia was in “accordance with the uniform practice in operating rooms” not only in Los Angeles but also throughout the country including the Mayo Clinic, where Nelson had trained and “where...one hundred thousand surgical operations had been performed” with anesthetic administered by nurses.Thatcher, V.S. (1953) History of Anesthesia, With Emphasis on the Nurse Specialist. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company.

Despite the rapid growth of the nurse anesthetist profession following the Great War, World War II again precipitated a shortage of anesthetists. A recruitment campaign was begun, but this was quickly followed by concern about the emergence of “ill advised and unjustified schools”. Helen Lamb in turn stressed the importance of maintaining educational standards even in times of shortages. By the end of WWII, the military had trained more than 2000 nurses to provide anesthesia using a program patterned by the NANA. The quality of nurse anesthesia education was again upgraded following WWII, and although university affiliation was advised, most programs were still hospital based. In 1933, the NANA established an Education Committee to develop educational standards, and by 1952, formal accreditation standards were in place.

Legal cases Under U.S. law, Frank v. South,175 Ky 416, 194 SW 375 (1917) Chalmers-Francis v. Nelson6 Cal 2d 402 (1936) and other court decisions established that anesthesia was the practice of nursing as well as medicine. As such, the practice of anesthesia in the US may be delivered by either a nurse anesthetist or an anesthesiologist. The decisions have not been challenged since the Dagmar Nelson case. In addition to legal decisions, individual hospital and surgical facility policies also regulate the granting of anesthesia clinical privileges and are often based on contractual agreements with provider groups.

Education History

The first school of nurse anesthesia was formed in 1909 at St. Vincent Hospital, Portland, Oregon. Established by Agnes McGee, the course was seven months long, and included courses on anatomy and physiology, pharmacology, and administration of the few common anesthetic agents available at the time.Thatcher, V.S. (1953) History of Anesthesia, With Emphasis on the Nurse Specialist. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company, p. 95. Within the next decade, approximately 19 schools opened. All consisted of post-graduate anesthesia training for nurses and were about six months in length. These included programs at Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Barnes Hospital, New York Post-Graduate Hospital, Charity Hospital in New Orleans, Grace Hospital in Detroit, among others.Thatcher, V.S. (1953) History of Anesthesia, With Emphasis on the Nurse Specialist. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company, p. 90-109. During those early days of administering anesthetics, knowledge and available anesthetic options were extremely limited and programs provided what little education they could for all levels of health providers. For example, in 1915, chief nurse anesthetist Agatha Hodgins established the Lakeside Hospital School of Anesthesia in Cleveland, Ohio. This program was open to nurses, physicians, and dentists. The training was only six months and the tuition was $50. In its first year, it graduated six physicians, eleven nurses, and two dentists.Thatcher, V.S. (1953) History of Anesthesia, With Emphasis on the Nurse Specialist. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company, p. 105.

Among the oldest schools in the U.S., Ravenswood Hospital in Chicago, opened in 1925 by Mae Cameron, which in 2001 became the NorthShore University HealthSystem School of Nurse Anesthesia, was the first school to be accredited by the Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs in 1952.