How To Become A Post Anesthesia Room Nurse: What It Is and Career Path

What is a post anesthesia room nurse and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted Expert

Lori Arnette

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a post anesthesia room nurse. For example, did you know that they make an average of $36.91 an hour? That's $76,781 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 195,400 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a Post Anesthesia Room Nurse?

Lori Arnette

Practical Nursing Director, University of Arkansas Community College at Hope-Texarkana

I would encourage graduate nurses to consider beginning positions in the areas of the majority of their Nursing School Clinical experience. This provides more confidence in skill sets and provides a positive environment for the graduate nurse to succeed, at the beginning of their career.
I would also encourage graduate nurses to allow themselves time to grow into more advanced positions. Soak up all the experiences they can encounter along the way.
Find a good mentor, a seasoned nurse who will take the time to teach you and guide you at the beginning of your career.

ScorePost Anesthesia Room NurseUS Average

Salary

6.0

Avg. Salary $76,781

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

10.0

Growth Rate 6%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.44%

Asian 8.91%

Black or African American 10.81%

Hispanic or Latino 9.86%

Unknown 4.33%

White 65.66%

Gender

female 86.67%

male 13.33%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress Level

10.0

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

9.1

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

7.8

Work Life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a post anesthesia room nurse

Explore post anesthesia room nurse education requirements

Most common post anesthesia room nurse degrees

Bachelor's

40.4 %

Associate

29.8 %

Diploma

15.8 %

Start to develop specific post anesthesia room nurse skills

Skills	Percentages
BLS	22.89%
Acls	19.19%
Critical Care	14.83%
ICU	11.29%
Epidural	9.23%

Complete relevant post anesthesia room nurse training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New post anesthesia room nurses learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a post anesthesia room nurse based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real post anesthesia room nurse resumes.

Obtain the necessary licensing

Becoming a licensed post anesthesia room nurse usually require a college degree. However, you need to pass an exam to become a licensed post anesthesia room nurse in most of states. 43 states require post anesthesia room nurses to have license for their work. You can see the list of states below.

State	Education	Exam	License Url
Alabama	Degree required	State exam required	Registered Nurse (RN)
Alaska	Degree required	Third-party exam required	Nurse, Registered
Arkansas	Degree required	Third-party exam required	Registered Nurse (RN)
California	Degree required	Third-party exam required	Nurse, Registered
Colorado	Degree required	Third-party exam required	Registered Nurse

Research post anesthesia room nurse duties and responsibilities

Manage surgical recovery patients including vascular, ENT, GI urological and neurological cases, coronary bypass surgery patients.
Perform and participate in cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Circulate general surgery and urology cases.
Implement the Pre-Operative care maintaining relate records.

Prepare your post anesthesia room nurse resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your post anesthesia room nurse resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a post anesthesia room nurse resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Post Anesthesia Room Nurse Resume templates

Build a professional Post Anesthesia Room Nurse resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Post Anesthesia Room Nurse resume.