Will AI replace Nurse Anesthetists?
AI reaches little of this job’s work.
13/100
Low exposure
More exposed to AI than 23% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 0% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 25% of the work
What the job involves
Administer anesthesia, monitor patient's vital signs, and oversee patient recovery from anesthesia. May assist anesthesiologists, surgeons, other physicians, or dentists. Must be registered nurses who have specialized graduate education.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Within reach(6)
- Assess patients' medical histories to predict anesthesia response.
- Obtain informed consent from patients for anesthesia procedures.
- Evaluate patients' post-surgical or post-anesthesia responses, taking appropriate corrective actions or requesting consultation if complications occur.
- Develop anesthesia care plans.
- Perform or evaluate the results of diagnostic tests, such as radiographs (x-rays) and electrocardiograms (EKGs).
and 1 more
Out of reach(18)
- Manage patients' airway or pulmonary status, using techniques such as endotracheal intubation, mechanical ventilation, pharmacological support, respiratory therapy, and extubation.
- Respond to emergency situations by providing airway management, administering emergency fluids or drugs, or using basic or advanced cardiac life support techniques.
- Monitor patients' responses, including skin color, pupil dilation, pulse, heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, ventilation, or urine output, using invasive and noninvasive 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.
and 13 more
Also called
Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) · Nurse Anesthetist · CRNA · Staff Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (Staff CRNA) · Staff Nurse Anesthetist · Anesthesia Physician · Anesthesia Specialist · Certified Nurse Anesthetist
Related jobs
- Anesthesiologists30/100
- Critical Care Nurses19/100
- Nurse Practitioners32/100
- Anesthesiologist Assistants9/100
- Registered Nurses39/100
What these numbers mean
The score is the share of this job’s work, weighted by how important and frequent each task is, that AI could do in half the time: tasks an AI model could do alone count in full, tasks that need software built on AI count half.
“AI already used” is the share of the work in tasks where people are recorded using AI today. “As AI tools mature” counts every task AI could halve, with or without extra software.
The percentile compares the score with every job’s, weighted by how many people in the US do each one. Exposure means AI could change how the work is done, not that the job goes away. These are estimates for the typical job, not predictions.
Sources
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
- GPTs are GPTs: Labor market impact potential of LLMs (task labels), Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), OpenAI and University of Pennsylvania
- Anthropic Economic Index: labor market impacts (task penetration), Anthropic
- Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (national and metropolitan areas), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics