National CRNA (Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists) Week – January 23-29, 2025

History of National CRNA (Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists) Week

One of the first American nurses to provide anesthetics was Catherine S. Lawrence, who served during the American Civil War. She administered chloroform to wounded soldiers during the Second Battle of Bull Run in 1863 who needed emergency operations on the battlefield. Despite this, it would be many years before nurses stepped up to the formal calling of providing anesthesia. Factors such as lack of training, the non-emergency nature of civilian surgical practice post-Civil War, and the insufficiency of role models and sponsors contributed to the delay in the influx of nurse anesthetists. However, surgeons began to train and encourage nurses to take on this important role.

Catholic nuns had a major part in the training of nurses as well as in anesthesia. The earliest recorded nurse to specialize in anesthesia was Sister Mary Bernard Sheridan, a Catholic nun who practiced in 1877 at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Erie, Pennsylvania. Sister Mary Sheridan’s influence became widespread in the Midwest, and many other Catholic nuns who were also nurses took her as a role model and started training to administer anesthesia. In 1875, St. John’s Hospital was established in Springfield, Illinois by the Nuns of the Third Order of the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis. At St. John’s, surgeons taught nurses the administration of chloroform and ether, and many of the Franciscan Sisters were assigned as anesthetists throughout the Midwest. Nurse anesthesia then became a prevailing practice in Catholic hospitals.Today, the U.S. requires CRNAs to have a Master’s or Doctoral degree in nurse anesthesia. The Nursing Council on Accreditation has the responsibility of developing requirements for degree programs. In 1981, the Council on Accreditation developed guidelines for master’s degrees.