Welcome to the LocumTenens.com CRNA career and resource center!
This section contains industry related news articles, salary surveys and
research. You will also find exclusive CRNA career content written specifically
for LocumTenens.com. Our goal is to provide you with a single location to find
all of the latest CRNA career info and news.
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2008 CRNA Salary Survey
LocumTenens.com's CRNA salary
The results are in for LocumTenens.com's Annual Compensation and Employment
Survey for 2008.
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Find salary and employment statistics including compensation comparisons by
area (metro vs. rural), gender and years in practice. Also covered are CRNAs
top sources for finding jobs, influencing factors for seeking a job change and
demographics -- board status, gender, years in practice and CRNA insights into
the practice of medicine today and thoughts about universal healthcare. |
Click
here for the 2008 CRNA salary report
Click
here for the 2007 CRNA salary report
Click
here for the 2006 CRNA salary report
Click
here for the 2005 CRNA salary report
Many CRNAs Think Universal Healthcare Will Lower Salaries
This year's presidential election has sparked considerable discussion about
healthcare reform and decreasing the uninsured U.S. population, but how do
those on the frontlines of patient care view the issue?
More than half (52 percent) of certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs)
responding to a recent nurse anesthetist salary survey conducted by
LocumTenens.com said universal healthcare would negatively affect their
personal incomes. Among 412 nurse anesthetist salary survey respondents, 37%
indicated the policy would have no effect on their earnings. Only 11% thought
universal healthcare's effect on their personal incomes would be positive.
However, this is not to say that CRNAs generally oppose universal healthcare.
"Based on the healthcare provider comments we've received through several
recent surveys, the term 'universal healthcare' prompts visions of greater
government control and bureaucracy," LocumTenens.com Senior Vice President
Pamela McKemie said. "Nevertheless, a number of providers seem to think it's a
policy whose time has come, regardless of how universal healthcare affects them
personally."
CRNA comments related to universal healthcare included these:
- "Willing to make a little less to help more people."
- "(Universal healthcare) would increase the demand for care and exacerbate
shortages."
- "Our country is long overdue for universal healthcare. I don't care what it
does to my pay. I would give up substantial salary if our country would finally
provide health care [sic] free for everyone."
LocumTenens.com is the only recruiting firm offering a job board specifically
for nurse anesthetists at http://www.locumtenens.com/CRNAcareer08.
Nurse Anesthetist Salary Trends Identified
Forty percent of CRNA salary survey respondents said their 2007 income was
about the same as (25%), or less than (15%), their income in 2006. However, 60
percent reported an income increase between 2006 and 2007. Thirty-seven percent
reported a raise of 2 to 9 percent and 23 percent reported an increase of 10
percent or more.
Overall 2008 CRNA annual compensation averaged $163,467.30, roughly 92 percent
of the average $178,084 for 2007 CRNA respondents to the LocumTenens.com nurse
anesthetist salary survey. While 54 percent of respondents were employer-based,
42 percent had worked as a locum tenens provider and 32 percent reported
working on a locum tenens or contract basis exclusively.
Like 2007 survey participants, this year's rural nurse anesthetist salary
survey respondents reported the highest salary average relative to the metro or
suburban CRNA salary averages reported:
Rural average $174,214.30
Metro average $164,148.80
Suburban average $156,630.70
Twenty-five percent of 2008 CRNA salary survey respondents reported practicing
in rural areas; the rest of this year's CRNA respondents were almost evenly
split between major metro areas (38%) and suburban areas (37%).
Most 2008 CRNA respondents (84%) said they would choose medicine as a career
again if given the choice.
LocumTenens.com Says CRNAs Earn More for Rural Practice
If this year's CRNA (certified registered nurse anesthetist) salary survey
results from LocumTenens.com are any indication, nurse anesthetists who work in
rural America out-earn their urban and suburban colleagues by about 10%.
Overall annual CRNA compensation averaged $178,084.70 among 417 respondents to
this year's salary survey, compared to $196,194.60 for the 28% of respondents
who said they currently practice in rural areas (defined as areas with
populations of less than 50,000). Rural respondents averaged 19.8 years in
practice, compared to an average of 16.5 years in practice overall.
"The income differential isn't surprising when you consider the increasing
surgical demands of our aging population and the scarcity of clinicians in many
parts of rural America," LocumTenens.com Recruiting Manager/Anesthesia Diana
Holmes said. "Nurse anesthetists function as the sole anesthesia providers in
more than half of all rural U.S. hospitals, according to the AANA (American
Association of Nurse Anesthetists)."
Holmes noted that only about 14% of the 419 respondents to LocumTenens.com's
2007 anesthesiologist salary survey reported practicing in rural areas. She
said this tracks with data from the National Rural Health Association
indicating that only 10% of physicians practice in rural America, where about a
quarter of the U.S. population lives.
Rural Locum Tenens Lucrative
Among rural respondents to the CRNA salary survey, the highest earnings were
reported by the 10% of survey respondents who work locum tenens exclusively for
an average of 10.3 months per year, with total compensation averaging
$205,538.50 annually. LocumTenens.com is the only recruiting firm offering a
job board specifically for nurse anesthetists at
http://www.crnajobs.com/.
"The AANA indicates that CRNAs administer 65% of the 26 million anesthetics
given each year to patients in the United States," Holmes said. "Companies like
LocumTenens.com facilitate getting them to where they're most needed-often at
facilities where an OR (operating room) would have to close but for their
willingness to travel. That's one reason why they get paid well for doing it."
View Full Story Here
Exclusive CRNA articles from LocumTenens.com
VA hospitals suffer from nurse anesthetist shortage
More than half of 125 Veteran Affairs medical facility chief anesthesiologists
responding to a Government Accountability Office study last year said they had
to temporarily close operating rooms and 72 percent said they delayed some
elective surgeries because of a shortage of certified registered nurse
anesthetists. The GAO study projects that 26 percent of the VA's CRNAs will
retire or leave in the next five years. A key problem: VA salaries are lower
than other such jobs in the facilities' local markets. The report notes that
the VA facilities don't fully use the available tools to improve salaries, such
as bonuses, education payment programs or a "locality pay system," to determine
if salaries should be increased.
Source: H&HN, February 2008
Not just nursing shortage - hospitals have difficulty filling critical
positions
When the ambulance diversion and treat-and-transfer rates at Massachusetts
hospitals soared in September, it was not because of increased patient demand
as much as decreased staff capacity. Registered nurses, licensed practical
nurses, nurses' aides, pharmacists, anesthesiologists, ultrasound technicians,
nuclear medicine technicians, nurse anesthetists, radiology technicians,
pharmacy technicians - many health care specialties have serious staffing
problems. And those staffing shortages are translating into longer waits for
elective procedures, and in some cases - such as ambulance diversions - no
treatment at all.
View
the complete article here. (Source: Boston
Business Journal)
Allied professionals' salaries rise with demand - Industry Scan
Certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs) are being offered salaries that
top what some physicians earn, according to a survey by Allied Consulting,
Dallas, Texas. Based on 951 allied healthcare professional search assignments
in 2001, the survey found that salary offers to CRNAs ranged from $90,000 to
$180,000 in 2001, compared with $86,000 to $107,000 in 1997. Although CRNAs may
earn more than primary care physicians such as pediatricians, they still earn
considerably less than anesthesiologists, who are in short supply.
View
the complete article here. (Healthcare Financial
Management)
Shortage of certified nurse anesthetists
The shortage of Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) has affected the
delivery of health care to a significant portion of the U.S. population,
according to the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA). The AANA
cited a decline in anesthesiology resident positions, an increase in
office-based surgery or surgery in places other than a hospital as driving
forces behind an increased need for CRNAs. Additionally, managed care is
constantly pursuing cost-cutting efforts, and coverage plans recognize CRNAs
for providing high-quality anesthesia care at reduced expense to patients and
insurance companies. The cost-efficiency of CRNAs helps keep escalating medical
costs down.
View
the complete article here. (CountryNurse.com)
So You Want to be a CRNA...
Despite the critical need for CRNAs, a national protracted shortfall of
anesthesia providers threatens to limit the growth of surgical activity. CRNAs
practice in every setting in which anesthesia is delivered, including
traditional hospital surgical suites, obstetrical delivery rooms, physicians'
offices, ambulatory surgical centers and the military
View
the complete article here. (NurseWeek.com)
Shortage of Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists Limits Access to Healthcare
A serious shortage of Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) has made
an impact on the delivery of healthcare for a significant portion of the U.S.
population, according to the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA).
View
the complete article here. (AnesthesiaPatientSafety.com)
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