Ahmed Bahagry had what you might call an early midlife crisis. Bahagry was in his mid-30s and had already worked seven years as a nuclear medicine technologist when he decided to make a change.
His sister-in-law had been a nurse anesthetist for 30 years and suggested he look into her line of work. Bahagry quit his job to go to nursing school for a bachelor's degree and went to work in critical care before gaining entrance to the nurse anesthesia program at St. Mary's University of Minnesota in Minneapolis (smumn.edu/anesthesia). He's never looked back.
"It was the best career move I've ever made, even though I had to jump through hoops to get to it," said Bahagry, who works at Abbott Northwestern Hospital for Northwest Anesthesia, P.A., a large Minneapolis-based group of anesthesiologists and certified registered nurse anesthetists (northwestanesthesia.com). "Once I was in it, I just loved it."
Who the students are
The average age of a student in St. Mary's program is mid-30s, according to Merri Moody, CRNA and director of the nurse anesthesia program at St. Mary's. Students must be a registered nurse or have a bachelor of science degree in physiology or biology; a science grade point average of at least 3.2; and a year of critical care experience to gain entry to the 28-month master's degree program.
Students study pharmacology, physiology and pathophysiology; organization and practice regulations; research; statistics; and management. Students get about 2,500 hours of experience in hospital operating rooms in a range of practice areas. St. Mary's program is affiliated with 27 hospitals.
CRNAs at work
On the job, CRNAs talk with patients before surgery and glean some history. They use anesthetics to put patients to sleep and manage their pain; they monitor vital signs throughout the procedure, awaken patients and inquire about their pain status afterwards. They must be compassionate, detail-oriented and willing to work swing shifts.
"It's not a cookbook," Bahagry said. "We plan and design an anesthetic according to the patient, their health care and the procedure they are having." CRNAs may work without the supervision of anesthesiologists, and most in rural areas do so. In addition to hospitals, they may also work in dental, oral surgery, orthopedic, pain management, ophthalmology, endoscopy or fertility clinics. Hospital salaries in the Twin Cities start at around $140,000 and the local job market is tight, according to Moody. Clinic salaries may be higher and rural jobs more plentiful.
"We love what we do," Bahagry said. "You feel a sense of fulfillment just going to work and taking care of patients."
