How to hire nurse anesthetists

Job description template

Copy it, fill in the brackets, and remove anything that does not fit your job. Keep only must-haves you would really turn someone away for.

[Job title] at [Company name]
[City, State] · [Full-time / Part-time] · [Pay range]

About the role
[Two or three sentences about your team, the work and why it matters.]

What you will do
• Assess patients' medical histories to predict anesthesia response.
• Develop anesthesia care plans.
• Manage patients' airway or pulmonary status, using techniques such as endotracheal intubation, mechanical ventilation, pharmacological support, respiratory therapy, and extubation.
• Monitor patients' responses, including skin color, pupil dilation, pulse, heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, ventilation, or urine output, using invasive and noninvasive techniques.
• Perform or manage regional anesthetic techniques, such as local, spinal, epidural, caudal, nerve blocks and intravenous blocks.
• Respond to emergency situations by providing airway management, administering emergency fluids or drugs, or using basic or advanced cardiac life support techniques.
• Select, order, or administer anesthetics, adjuvant drugs, accessory drugs, fluids or blood products as necessary.
• Select, prepare, or use equipment, monitors, supplies, or drugs for the administration of anesthetics.

What you bring
• [Required license, certification or years of experience, if any]
• [Education, only if you truly need it. Typical to start in this job: Master's degree]
• Strong critical thinking, reading comprehension, active learning, active listening, monitoring and speaking skills
• Working knowledge of medicine and dentistry, biology, customer and personal service and chemistry
• [Anything else you would really turn someone away for]

Pay and benefits
[Pay range]. For reference, the U.S. median for this job is $113.75 an hour ($236,590 a year).
[Benefits, schedule and anything else candidates should know.]

How to apply
[Apply on JAI Bot. Every applicant hears back.]

Copy the template Check your finished job post

Interview questions for nurse anesthetists

Ask every candidate the same questions, in the same order, and write down what they say. Questions about past work show what someone has actually done.

1. Tell me about a time you had to assess patients' medical histories to predict anesthesia response. What did you do, and how did it turn out?
2. Tell me about a time you had to develop anesthesia care plans. What did you do, and how did it turn out?
3. Tell me about a time you had to manage patients' airway or pulmonary status, using techniques such as endotracheal intubation, mechanical ventilation, pharmacological support, respiratory therapy, and extubation. What did you do, and how did it turn out?
4. Tell me about a time you had to monitor patients' responses, including skin color, pupil dilation, pulse, heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, ventilation, or urine output, using invasive and noninvasive techniques. What did you do, and how did it turn out?
5. Describe a decision at work where the obvious answer was wrong. How did you work out the better choice?
6. Tell me about written instructions, a policy or a manual you had to follow closely. How did you make sure you followed it correctly?
7. Tell me about something new you had to learn quickly for work. How did you learn it?
8. Why this job, and why now? What would make you stay here for the long term?

Good answers name a real situation, what the person did themselves and what happened. Avoid questions about age, family plans, religion, health, national origin or anything else unrelated to the job.

What nurse anesthetists do

• Assess patients' medical histories to predict anesthesia response.
• Develop anesthesia care plans.
• Manage patients' airway or pulmonary status, using techniques such as endotracheal intubation, mechanical ventilation, pharmacological support, respiratory therapy, and extubation.
• Monitor patients' responses, including skin color, pupil dilation, pulse, heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, ventilation, or urine output, using invasive and noninvasive techniques.
• Perform or manage regional anesthetic techniques, such as local, spinal, epidural, caudal, nerve blocks and intravenous blocks.
• Respond to emergency situations by providing airway management, administering emergency fluids or drugs, or using basic or advanced cardiac life support techniques.
• Select, order, or administer anesthetics, adjuvant drugs, accessory drugs, fluids or blood products as necessary.
• Select, prepare, or use equipment, monitors, supplies, or drugs for the administration of anesthetics.

Skills that matter most

Critical ThinkingReading ComprehensionActive LearningActive ListeningMonitoringSpeakingMedicine and DentistryBiologyCustomer and Personal ServiceChemistry

Education, experience and outlook for nurse anesthetists

• Typical education to start: Master's degree (BLS)
• Related work experience most have: 2 to 4 years (O*NET)
• Job outlook: +9.7% over ten years, much faster than average · about 2,400 openings a year (BLS)

What to pay nurse anesthetists

Pay depends a lot on where the job is. Highest and lowest median yearly pay by state:

See nurse anesthetists pay in every state

Related hiring guides

• Anesthesiologists
• Physician Assistants
• Nurse Practitioners
• Registered Nurses
• Emergency Medicine Physicians
• Nurse Midwives
• Paramedics
• Surgical Assistants
• Pediatric Surgeons
• Cardiologists

Job duties and skills: O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license; O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. JAI Bot has modified this information; USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. Pay: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS, May 2025. Interview questions and the job description template: JAI Bot, based on the duties and skills above.