cture and governance. On June 17, 1931 the American Association of Nurse (AANA), wasformed and held its first meeting. From that point on the nurse anesthetist had a new name, they were also known as Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist, (CRNA).Up until World War Two, anesthesia was considered a nursing specialty. This fact was credited in 1942 when the ratio of CRNA's to anesthesiologists(M.D.) was seventeen to one. Those statistics stayed relatively the same until the sixties,(Evans,1995,p 3).The construction of criteria and guidelines for CRNA programs has been the responsibility of the AANA and government organizations. Together they also created the criteria that was necessary for schools to follow to keep their accreditation and licensure of practicing anesthetists,(AANA,1998,p 3). The CRNA of today is not much different than their counterparts that practiced in the late eightteen hundreds and early nineteen hundreds. One noticeable difference between the CRNA's of today and those of yesteryear is the constantly changing technologies and new developments in the drugs available to them. Along with new advances came the need for additional schooling and training. The new demands put on training institutions assured that only the best and most qualified nurses be accepted into the CRNA programs. The schooling required by nurses in this field is a rigorous and challenging set of didactic and clinical classes that can last twenty four to thirty six months with little or no breaks. The criteria for entrance into most accredited schools is strict. Most require a GPA of 3.00 to 3.50,(UNE,1996,p6), previous experience in an ICU ward and a bachelors of science in nursing. The degrees that can be earned in anesthesia are CRNA, Ed in anesthesiology or a doctorate degree, (Evans,1995,p3). Due to the current trends in health care and demands for highly qualified CRNA's in the work place, all accredited school must offer a masters of CRNA pro...
