Types of Anesthesia Providers

Anesthesiologist

Like other medical doctors, anesthesiologists must follow four years of pre-medical undergraduate education with four years of medical school to earn a medical doctorate. After medical school, a physician specializing in anesthesiology at a minimum completes a four-year anesthesiology residency training program. An anesthesiologist is the director of the Anesthesia Care Team.

Anesthesiologists are primarily responsible for the safety and well-being of patients before, during and after surgery. This may include:

  • Placing the patient in the state of controlled unconsciousness called “general anesthesia”
  • Providing “regional anesthetics,” in which only a portion of the body is made numb
  • Administering sedation when indicated for the relief of pain or anxiety

All of these anesthetics provide continuous pain relief and sustain patients’ critical life functions as they are affected throughout surgical, obstetrical or other medical procedures.
The role of the anesthesiologist extends beyond the operating room. The anesthesiologist is responsible for the preoperative assessment of the patient, an evaluation process that carefully considers both the patient’s current state of health and the planned surgical procedure. This evaluation allows anesthesiologists to make judgments about the safest anesthesia plan for each individual patient. The anesthesiologist also is responsible for the well being of the patient postoperatively, while the patient emerges from the effects of anesthesia. They often are involved in the management of acute postoperative pain, as well as chronic and cancer pain; cardiac and respiratory resuscitation; blood transfusion therapies; and respiratory therapy.

Anesthesiologists in the United States complete a four year undergraduate college degree that includes satisfying pre-med requirements.

Like other medical doctors, anesthesiologists must follow undergraduate education with four years of medical school. After medical school, a physician specializing in anesthesiology completes a four-year anesthesiology residency program. They are then eligible to sit for the American Board of Anesthesiology (ABA) exam. Almost 75 percent of anesthesiologists are board-certified.
Although anesthesiologists complete a minimum of eight years of medical training after college, many elect to spend an additional fellowship year of specialty training in specific areas such as pain management, cardiac anesthesia, pediatric anesthesia, neuroanesthesia, obstetric anesthesia or critical care medicine. They may also seek certification in one of following subspecialties, which require additional training and examinations: critical care medicine, hospice and palliative medicine and pain medicine.

Anesthesiologist Assistant

Anesthesiologist assistants (AA) are highly skilled health professionals who have completed a four-year undergraduate pre-med program, followed by an accredited anesthesiologist assistant education program. A student may become certified by passing the National Commission for Certification of Anesthesiologist Assistants examination.
AAs are trained extensively in the delivery of safe and high quality anesthesia care, as well as advanced patient monitoring techniques. As nonphysician anesthetists, AAs work under the direction of licensed anesthesiologists to implement anesthesia care plans. An AA may not practice outside the field of anesthesia or apart from the supervision of an anesthesiologist.

Nurse Anesthetist

A nurse anesthetist or CRNA (certified registered nurse anesthetist) is a registered nurse who has completed a two-to-three-year graduate school program in nurse anesthesia. Prior to this, they completed an undergraduate degree in nursing and worked as a registered nurse in an intensive care unit. They are nonphysician anesthetists, specializing in the provision of anesthesia care and participate in the administration of anesthesia in a variety of surgical cases. In Texas, nurse anesthetists work under the supervision of a physician. Most often the supervising physician is an anesthesiologist, but nurse anesthetists may work under the supervision of a physician in any specialty.

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