About This Career

Administers anesthesia, monitors patient's vital signs, and oversees patient recovery from anesthesia. May assist anesthesiologists, surgeons, other physicians, or dentists. Must be registered nurses who have specialized graduate education.

This career is part of the Health Science cluster Therapeutic Services pathway.

A person in this career:

• Manages patients' airway or pulmonary status, using techniques such as endotracheal intubation, mechanical ventilation, pharmacological support, respiratory therapy, and extubation.
• Responds to emergency situations by providing airway management, administering emergency fluids or drugs, or using basic or advanced cardiac life support techniques.
• Monitors patients' responses, including skin color, pupil dilation, pulse, heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, ventilation, or urine output, using invasive and noninvasive techniques.
• Selects, orders, or administers anesthetics, adjuvant drugs, accessory drugs, fluids or blood products as necessary.
• Selects, prepares, or uses equipment, monitors, supplies, or drugs for the administration of anesthetics.
• Assesses patients' medical histories to predict anesthesia response.
• Performs or manages regional anesthetic techniques, such as local, spinal, epidural, caudal, nerve blocks and intravenous blocks.
• Develops anesthesia care plans.
• Obtains informed consent from patients for anesthesia procedures.
• Prepares prescribed solutions and administers local, intravenous, spinal, or other anesthetics, following specified methods and procedures.

Working Conditions and Physical Demands

People who do this job report that:

• You would often handle loads up to 10 lbs., sometimes up to 20 lbs. You might do a lot of walking or standing, or you might sit but use your arms and legs to control machines, equipment or tools.
• Work in this occupation involves use of protective items such as safety shoes, glasses, gloves, hearing protection, a hard hat, or personal flotation devices
• Exposure to pollutants, gases, dust, fumes, odors, poor ventilation, etc.
• Exposed to disease and infections more than once a month through work such as patient care, laboratory work, and sanitation control
• Work in this occupation involves using your hands to hold, control, and feel objects more than one-third of the time
• Work in this occupation requires being inside most of the time
• Sound and noise levels are loud and distracting
• Exposed to radiation more than once a month
• Work in this occupation involves use of special protective items such as a breathing apparatus, safety harness, full protection suit, or radiation protection

Working in this career involves (physical activities):

• Identifying color and seeing differences in color, including shades and brightness
• Seeing clearly at a distance
• Seeing clearly up close
• Speaking clearly enough to be able to be understood by others
• Identifying and understanding the speech of another person

Work Hours and Travel

• Rotating shift work
• Weekend work