Public Polling
Ascend Public Polling was commissioned for the survey.
A survey was conducted by on March 28 - April 1, 2019, 4,028 survey respondents were randomly selected from a demographically proportionate sample of registered voters in the United States.
When asked:
“Which term do you feel best describes a professional nurse who provides anesthesia during surgery, a Nurse Anesthetist or a Nurse Anesthesiologist?”
The majority chose Nurse Anesthesiologist (54%) over Nurse Anesthetist (23%).
When asked:
“Which medical professional do you consider to be the expert in the field of anesthesiology, a Nurse Anesthetist or a Nurse Anesthesiologist?”
The gap widens, with the overwhelming majority of respondents, again, choosing Nurse Anesthesiologists (57%) over Nurse Anesthetists (16%).
When asked:
Would you say you recognize a Nurse Anesthesiologist as a member of the nursing profession and a Physician Anesthesiologist as a medical doctor?
By a 3:1 Margin (58% to 18%) respondents stated they recognized the difference between the two professions.