A certified registered nurse anesthetist is one of the best paid nursing professions—making it an excellent career choice in today's booming health care industry—if you're interested in working closely with health professionals such as surgeons, dentists, podiatrists and anesthesiologists.

Today CRNAs are the sole anesthesiologists in more than two-thirds of all rural hospitals in the U.S. and they administer approximately 30 million anesthetics to patients nationwide each year. Anesthesia specialists work closely with many health care professionals to take care of a patient's anesthesia needs before, during and after surgery or during the delivery of a baby.

Essential duties of CRNA practice include performing a physical assessment of the patient, administering anesthesia during the course of surgery and overseeing the patient's recovery from anesthesia. Many nurse anesthetists serve as members of a health care team, while others work as independent contractors. Nurse anesthetists practice in a variety of settings, such as the following:

• Hospital operating rooms

• Ambulatory surgery centers

• Pain clinics

• Physicians' offices

• U.S. military

How much is a nurse anesthetist salary

Nurse anesthetist salaries clearly match the skills and expertise CRNAs must bring to the job, from their advanced education to their clinical experience and specialized knowledge. In fact, Salary.com reports that the median nurse anesthetist salary in the U.S. is $154,188.

The nurse anesthetist salary range in your city varies somewhat from the same position in another part of the country. Each type of employer pays different nurse anesthetist salaries. As an example, PayScale.com finds that self-employed CRNAs (or ones who work on a contract basis) tend to make higher nurse anesthetist salaries than those who work for hospitals or government agencies.

Another point is that your nurse anesthetist salary goes up as you gain more years of experience as a practicing registered nurse. Typically, nurse anesthetists bring several years of clinical experience, a standard requirement of CRNA graduate programs, to the job.

Nurse anesthetist schools

Typically, the higher your degree level or the more nursing education you have received the more you increase your nursing salary potential. And nurse anesthetists, who must hold a master's degree and specialized certification to practice, earn some of the highest nursing salaries of any practice area.