Autonomy, Not Just Hours: What a National CRNA Survey Found
By FairShare Team · · 3 min read
Published in the AANA Journal, this national study surveyed active CRNA members of the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists to identify what actually determines job satisfaction, burnout, and turnover intention — testing job characteristics and personality factors against each outcome using structural equation modeling.
The clearest finding: job satisfaction was positively associated with autonomy — meaning CRNAs who felt they had genuine control over how their work got done reported meaningfully higher satisfaction, independent of how many hours they worked. Skill variety showed a similar pattern. On the other side of the equation, burnout was positively associated with hours worked per week, but negatively associated with both autonomy and skill variety — suggesting that autonomy doesn't just feel better, it appears to actively buffer against burnout even when hours are high.
A different conclusion than "reduce hours"
The study's practical recommendation followed directly from that finding: employers should structure CRNA roles to feature greater autonomy and skill variety, since doing so was linked to higher satisfaction, lower burnout, and lower turnover intention across the sample.
That's a meaningfully different conclusion than "reduce hours," which isn't always operationally realistic in a specialty defined by case volume and call coverage. Autonomy — some real say in how, when, and with whom the work happens — is often more achievable to build into a schedule than raw hour reduction, and this study suggests it may matter just as much, if not more. See how FairShare builds provider input into scheduling.
Source
- Mahoney CB, Lea J, Schumann PL, Jillson IA. Turnover, Burnout, and Job Satisfaction of Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists in the United States: Role of Job Characteristics and Personality. AANA Journal. 2020;88(1):39–48.