Nurse Anesthetists
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.
51,840 people do this job in the US. $236,590 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 30%
- 4%
- 67%
Measured, from Anthropic's usage data (2025). Counts help on part of a task.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 4.4 h long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 2%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 28%. Today's estimate: 29%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
The tasks
Sorted by . 24 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monitor patients' responses, including skin color, pupil dilation, pulse, heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, ventilation, or urine output, using invasive and noninvasive techniques.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 11% | 25 min13 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Develop anesthesia care plans.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 8% | 38 min17 min to 1.3 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Manage patients' airway or pulmonary status, using techniques such as endotracheal intubation, mechanical ventilation, pharmacological support, respiratory therapy, and extubation.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 8% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Select, prepare, or use equipment, monitors, supplies, or drugs for the administration of anesthetics.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 6% | 21 min13 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Select, order, or administer anesthetics, adjuvant drugs, accessory drugs, fluids or blood products as necessary.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 6% | 17 min8 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Perform pre-anesthetic screenings, including physical evaluations and patient interviews, and document results.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 6% | 33 min17 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Assess patients' medical histories to predict anesthesia response.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 6% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Evaluate patients' post-surgical or post-anesthesia responses, taking appropriate corrective actions or requesting consultation if complications occur.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 5% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Read current literature, talk with colleagues, and participate in professional organizations or conferences to keep abreast of developments in nursing.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 4% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | 77%Half by now | |
| Perform or manage regional anesthetic techniques, such as local, spinal, epidural, caudal, nerve blocks and intravenous blocks.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 4% | 29 min13 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Obtain informed consent from patients for anesthesia procedures.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 4% | 17 min8 min to 33 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Select and prescribe post-anesthesia medications or treatments to patients.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 4% | 17 min8 min to 38 min | 100%Half by now |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).