Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA)

Mission and Context

UCI Health’s Department of Anesthesiology & Perioperative Care sits within a Level 1 trauma, large academic health system serving a highly diverse patient population across a broad range of surgical specialties. CRNAs are essential members of the Anesthesia Care Team, partnering with anesthesiologists and perioperative colleagues to deliver safe, evidence-based anesthesia care—from pre-operative assessment through emergence and post-operative handoff. This work is anchored in the larger strength of UC Irvine: founded in 1965, a member of the Association of American Universities, ranked among the nation’s top 10 public universities by U.S. News & World Report, home to five Nobel laureates, more than 36,000 students, and 224 degree programs. Learn more at uci.edu.

The Moment & Opportunity

UCI is recruiting CRNAs who want breadth, acuity, and long-term growth; the role combines high-acuity patients, complex procedures, education, and close collaboration across disciplines. No two days are expected to look the same: you will build versatility across services, patient populations, monitoring approaches, anesthetic techniques, and perioperative workflows while learning from CRNAs and anesthesiologists with deep clinical experience. The opportunity is to join a team known for camaraderie, mutual support, and a strong academic practice environment where clinical leadership, education, research, and mentorship can grow over time.

Scope & Impact

Under the supervision and medical direction of an anesthesiologist, you will perform comprehensive anesthesia care, including pre-operative evaluation, appropriate pre-op orders under approved procedures, administration of monitored, regional, and general anesthesia, intra-operative monitoring, safe emergence, and post-operative support. You will assess medical history, physical findings, laboratory tests, ECGs, chest X-rays, medication interactions, airway risks, and indications for delaying elective surgery or obtaining specialty consultation. You will determine appropriate monitoring needs, including arterial lines and Swan-Ganz pulmonary artery catheters, and safely place venous and arterial monitoring lines and devices as directed. You will also contribute to education, including supervision and progress assessment of student anesthetists when assigned.

Expectations for Outcomes

Early success means becoming confident in UCI’s clinical environment, workflows, expectations, and documentation standards while practicing safely across diverse surgical services and age groups. Over time, success will be measured through sound judgment, efficient decision-making, reliability, clear communication, professionalism, and the ability to function calmly within a complex perioperative system. You will recognize and respond to adverse anesthetic effects, airway abnormalities, return of consciousness and reflexes, post-operative complications, cardiac arrest, and shock—initiating emergency actions such as CPR, airway management, and line placement under anesthesiologist direction.

Qualifications

Required and desired qualifications for the CRNA role.

• Graduate of an accredited school of nursing and accredited school of nurse anesthesia.
• California RN license and California Nurse Anesthetist license.
• ACLS certification and AANA certification.
• Strong command of anesthesia pharmacology, dosing, side effects, contraindications, and relevant cardiac, respiratory, neurologic, endocrine, and renal physiology.
• Skill in informed consent conversations, complete documentation, anesthesia records, patient monitoring, airway management, laryngoscopy, intubation, and safe patient transport/handoff.
• Professional presence marked by reliability, adaptability, preparation, self-awareness, respect for colleagues, and the confidence to ask for support when needed.

Compensation

$121.42–$166.62/hour (hiring pay scale); On-call rate: $20/hour

Benefits

• Eligible for full benefits on the first day of hire
• Health, dental, and vision insurance
• UC Pension Retirement Plan
• Voluntary UC retirement savings options
• Pet insurance
• Expanded childcare leave
• Employee discounts
• 15 vacation days, 12 sick days, and 14 paid holidays per year (vacation increases up to 24 days/year)
• UCI pays, on average, 87% of medical premium rates and 100% of dental premium rates
• hr.uci.edu/partnership/totalrewards/