Imagine this: Your tonsils（扁桃体） are so inflamed （发炎） that it's hard to swallow. Every swallow is painful. The doctor has a solution: an operation. "Will the operation hurt?" you ask. "Not a chance," the doctor says. That's because a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist, or CRNA, will be a part of the surgical team. It's that person's job to help manage the anesthesia (麻醉) that makes patients much less sensitive to pain during surgery.
Throughout history, there have been countless medical breakthroughs and discoveries. Perhaps none has been more significant than the use of anesthesia to deaden the pain of surgery. Some forms put people into a sleeplike state for a short time during routine medical procedures. General anesthesia causes patients to lose consciousness during major operations, such as hip replacements or open-heart surgery. A regional anesthesia numbs only a part of a patient's body, although the person might be awake. Local anesthesia numbs a small area, such as around stitches（缝线）.
Brett Hayes is a CRNA. "If you want an exciting career with direct, hands-on caring for people and saving lives, you won't regret picking anesthesia as a career," he says. "I can see anywhere from one to 15 patients per day, depending on the timing and difficulty of the surgery," Hayes says. "I might finish the day in the obstetrical department, giving anesthesia to an expectant（怀孕的） mother about to deliver a baby," he says. "Rarely are two days the same. If you choose the path to becoming a nurse anesthetist, know that it is long and difficult," Hayes says. "It is, however, worth every minute you'll put into it."
Still, being a nurse anesthetist is much more than knowing which drugs to use or how to monitor them. "In order to be truly successful, you have to connect with people," says Antoinette Padula, Hayes's wife. Also a CRNA, she teaches at Columbia University, in New York City. "It means giving support and encouragement to patients and their loved ones during some of the most critical, often life-changing moments in their lives."
