AA's will always be part of the Anesthesia Care Team. It is not and will not be our goal to function fully independently. If they'll be honest about it, CRNA's rely on physicians MOST of the time, just not always an anesthesiologist. And although they're just dying to point out that 65% of anesthetics are administered by CRNA's, the majority of those are administered in hospitals with anesthesiologists, and by coincidence, these also total about 65%. And most of the anesthetics administered in hospitals without anesthesiologists are done in small-town hospitals, and are smaller cases. Trust me - open heart surgery, transplants, neurosurgery, and most other major procedures are done in larger hospitals with anesthesiologists around. You won't find ANY hospitals with CRNA's ONLY doing these bigger procedures, except in dire emergencies.