Nurse Anesthetist Salary

Along with job location, the following factors can have an impact on nurse anesthetist salaries:

• Employer – Nurse anesthetists work in a variety of settings, from hospitals to pain clinics. Each type of employer pays a different salary. As an example, PayScale.com finds that self-employed CRNAs tend to make higher nurse anesthetist salaries than those who work for hospitals or government agencies. Learn more about the different CRNA job settings.
   
• Education – Typically, the more nursing education you have received, the more you increase your nursing salary potential. And nurse anesthetists, who must hold a master's degree and specialized certification to practice, earn some of the highest nursing salaries of any practice area.
   
• Previous Work Experience – As you might expect, your nurse anesthetist salary goes up as you gain more years of experience as a practicing registered nurse.

Nurse anesthetist salaries clearly match the skills and expertise CRNAs must bring to the job, from their advanced education to their clinical experience and specialized knowledge. In fact, Salary.com reports that the median nurse anesthetist salary in the U.S. as of 2011 is $156,610.

Nurses certainly do not enter their profession for the money alone. Considering the stress and challenges the job brings, it's clearly their compassion for people and focus on making a contribution to the quality of health care in the country that bring nurses to this highly rewarding occupation.

Learn more about nurse anesthetist degrees, prerequisites and coursework, and request more information from the CRNA schools that interest you most.

_{Sources:
Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2010
Salary.com, 2011}