Anesthesia technician screening questions: ASATT certification, room setup, airway carts and MH readiness

Anesthesia technician screening questions should confirm what the candidate actually set up and supported in the operating room: anesthesia machines and monitors, airway and difficult airway carts, lines and transducers, fluid warmers and rapid infusers, the malignant hyperthermia cart, and any point-of-care tests. Then check ASATT certification and ACLS, if the client requires them, and the pace of turnovers across a full schedule. As of October 2026, ASATT certifies new candidates only as Cer.A.T.T. (technologist), while still accepting the older Cer.A.T. for people who hold it.

Anesthesia techs work beside the surgical team but have a different job: the surgical technologist screening questions cover the sterile field, and the sterile processing technician screening questions cover cleaning and sterilizing instruments, including reusable airway equipment. If the client is also hiring nurse anesthetists, see the nurse anesthetist screening questions.

Which anesthesia tech job is it?

For MRI work, the MRI technologist screening questions explain MR safety zones, which apply to anyone who brings equipment into the scanner room.

Which credentials to verify

• Cer.A.T.T. ASATT's exam page lists three routes to eligibility: a CAAHEP-accredited program, the advancement program for current Cer.A.T. holders, or the Practical Experience Pathway. The exam is computer-based at Meazure Learning centers; candidates may take it up to three times, then wait 12 months before reapplying.
• Cer.A.T. ASATT's certification page says it no longer tests for the technician certification but still accepts it for those who already hold one.
• Renewal and ACLS. Certification expires December 31 every two years. Cer.A.T.T. holders need 30 continuing education credits per period, which must include a valid ACLS certificate from the American Heart Association or the American Red Cross; Cer.A.T. holders need 20.
• Verification. ASATT runs a Certification Verification System linked from its certification pages. Check the credential and expiry before you submit.

Knockout questions

Room setup and equipment questions

1. "Walk me through setting up a room for a general anesthetic."
   • Strong answer: checks suction, the machine's daily or pre-use check as their department split it with the anesthesia provider, monitors and cables, airway supplies (masks, laryngoscope blades and handles or video laryngoscope, endotracheal tubes in sizes, stylet, oral airways), IV supplies, and what the provider asked for. Knows which checks belong to the provider.
   • Red flags: cannot separate their checks from the provider's.
2. "The provider calls for the difficult airway cart. What do you bring, and what do you check on it?"
   • Strong answer: knows where it lives, what is on it in their last department, how it was checked and resealed, and that it goes to the room at once.
   • Red flags: has never checked the cart.
3. "How do you set up an arterial line transducer?"
   • Strong answer: primes the tubing without bubbles, pressure bag to the department's pressure, levels at the phlebostatic axis and zeroes, checks the waveform with the provider.
   • Red flags: no mention of bubbles, leveling or zeroing.
4. "Tell me about setting up a rapid infuser or fluid warmer in an emergency."
   • Strong answer: the device by name, priming, air detection, what alarms mean, and who hangs blood (licensed staff, per policy).
   • Red flags: describes hanging blood products themselves where the policy does not allow it.

Emergency readiness questions

MHAUS's MH cart list includes 36 vials of Dantrium or Revonto (20 mg) or 3 vials of Ryanodex (250 mg), sterile water and at least 3,000 mL of refrigerated saline for IV cooling. Point-of-care tests are laboratory testing under CMS's CLIA program, whose requirements scale with the complexity of the test; the client's lab decides who may run each one.

Turnover, stocking and cleaning questions

• "What do you do in a turnover, in order?" Strong: removes used items, sends reusable airway equipment to processing as the department requires, wipes surfaces and equipment with the approved product, restocks, sets up for the next case.
• "How do you know what to stock for the next case?" Strong: the schedule, the provider's preferences, special requests (fiberoptic scope, nerve block cart, warming).
• "An item on the cart is past its expiry date. What do you do?" Strong: pulls it, replaces it, tells the lead if stock is low.

How anesthesia tech experience gets overstated

• OR aide or materials work described as anesthesia technician work.
• "Placed lines" when they set up the line kit and transducer for the provider.
• Cardiac cases that were watching, not setting up.
• Certification in progress presented as held. Check ASATT's verification system.

A 12-minute phone-screen flow

1. Minutes 0 to 2: setting, case mix, call and shift.
2. Minutes 2 to 4: knockouts, ASATT credential and ACLS or BLS.
3. Minutes 4 to 9: room setup, one line or infuser question, and the MH cart.
4. Minutes 9 to 12: turnover pace, point-of-care testing and next steps.

Scoring

What to send the anesthesia manager

Anesthesia managers want to know which rooms the tech can run on day one and which need orientation. Fill this from the call and send it with the submittal:

Technician: [name]
ASATT: [Cer.A.T.T. / Cer.A.T. / none], expires [date], verified [date]
Life support: [ACLS / BLS], expires [date]
Recent settings: [main OR / cardiac / trauma / L&D / off-site / ASC], months each
Set up independently: [machines and monitors, airway carts, arterial and central line transducers, rapid infuser, fluid warmers]
Point-of-care tests run: [tests], signed off by [lab or department]
Emergency experience: [MH drill or event, massive transfusion, difficult airway]
Turnover: [rooms covered, typical turnover tasks]
Call and shifts accepted: [details], start date [date]
Candidate's own gap: [e.g. "no cardiac cases; has set up a rapid infuser only in drills"]

The gap line protects you and the candidate. If the client needs a cardiac tech on night call and the candidate has never set up for a heart case, the manager sees it before the interview rather than on the first call night.

Describe the physical demands (standing for long periods, pushing carts and equipment between rooms) and ask about ability with or without accommodation, not about health (illegal interview questions). For later rounds, the interview guide for healthcare roles covers structured interviews and scorecards.