Since the Civil War, nurse anesthetists
have been the principal
providers of anesthesia in combat
zones, and, until 25 years ago
when more physicians began to
enter the field of anesthesiology,
nurses traditionally provided
anesthesia to civilians as well.
The pioneering nurse anesthetist
Alice Magaw (1860–1928) was
dubbed the “mother of anesthesia”
by physician Charles Mayo
(1865–1939), who collaborated with
her at the internationally famed Mayo Clinic. In 1906, she published an article documenting her use
of ether and chloroform anesthesia on 14,000 patients without a single death. Today about 80 percent
of nurse anesthetists work under the direction of anesthesiologists, although they remain the sole
providers of anesthesia in 2/3 of all the rural hospitals in the United States. Furthermore, nurse
anesthetists still physically administer 65 percent of all anesthetics given to patients in the U.S.
every year. To become a certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA) takes seven to eight years of
preparation, compared with 12 for anesthesiologists.