Karyn Karp, MS, CRNA has been a practicing CRNA for 28 years and currently serves as CANA’s Practice Director. She began her career at New England Baptist Hospital in Boston, served as former directors of two nurse anesthesia educational programs, and received a National Institute of Health (NIH) grant to establish a California nurse anesthesia program.
Anesthesia program, degree & year
University of North Dakota, MS in Anesthesiology, 1989
Primary practice sites
Petaluma Valley Hospital; San Joaquin General Hospital; Glenn Medical Center
Current clinical specialty
OB anesthesia; rural anesthesia practice
Favorite hobby
Scuba diving; motorcycles are a close second (rode a Yamaha VMax cross-country to Boston and back to California).
People would be surprised to know
I used to dance with San Francisco Ballet!
Favorite vacation destinations
Cambodia; Turkey
The best part about being a CRNA
Having the ability to take away someone’s pain. I love the study of public policy as it relates to CRNA practice and hope to continue education in this field.
The hardest part
Not being able to control for all variables that impact results in the clinical setting; the difficulty of overcoming and changing barriers to practice in policy; the negative impact of false perceptions!
