gram as a mandatory degree by the end of 1998,Evans,1995,p4). To this date there are some twenty seven thousand CRNA's in practice in the United States alone and that number is constantly growing,(AANA,1998,p 1). Timothy Gale is one out of the twenty seven thousand CRNA's in the U.S. and is presently employed at the Aroostook Medical Center. He received his CRNA degree in 1992 from the Eastern Maine Medical Center. He loves his profession and the esteem that comes with it. He is among the CRNA's that administered 65% of the 26 million anesthetics given to patients last year,(AANA,1998,p 1). These anesthetics were given in a wide array of settings that range from dentists offices to hospital operating rooms to training facilities. Tim also described his work in a hospital environment as very rewarding and challenging. The autonomy given to CRNA's is an important part of the job to him. Not all CRNA's are granted the same levels of autonomy as others. It all depends on previous performance and competency, luckily Tim is competent enough to be left alone in his job.Looking at CRNA's from an economical aspect, they make perfect fedutiary sense. When comparing the salaries of CRNA's to MD's that give anesthetics the difference is quit staggering. A CRNA makes about 70-100 thousand dollars a year compared to the 250+ thousand dollars a year that the MD makes,(ANA,1997,p3). The Health Care Financing Administration launched a study of the job performances and pay scales of CRNA's and MD's. They discovered that the quality of care between the two was the same(AANA/NOTICES,1998,p1). This led the HCFA to work with the U.S. Congress to help change the rules allowing CRNA's absolute freedom from physician supervision while administering anesthetics. The U.S. Congress has even sat up and taken note of the value of qualified CRNA'...
