Curriculum
To prepare nurses for a career as Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs), The Nurse Anesthesia Program faculty subscribe to the belief that learning is a developmental process through which declarative, procedural and conditional knowledge bases are developed and refined in a developmental fashion. We also believe that case-based anesthesia instruction allows students to acquire flexible knowledge structures required to apply theory to practice.
To achieve this integration of knowledge structures our innovative program provides intense, multidisciplinary didactic and clinical instruction. Students are prepared to be successful on the National Certification Examination (NCE) as well as to embark upon successful careers as Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs).
- Basic Sciences taught by content experts, professors of Anatomy, Chemistry, Pharmacology and Physiology
- Basic science classes taken with medical and other doctoral students at the Brody School of Medicine
- Basic Sciences Clinical Correlations taught by clinical anesthesia experts.
- Full Anatomy Course (5 semester hours) with cadaver lab, taugh by 4 Ph.D faculties.
- Pharmacology taught by 7 Ph.D faculties includes simulated autonomic lab guided by pharmacologist
- Physiology course taught by 7 Ph.D faculties with clinically relevant labs
- Chemistry course designed for nurse anesthesia students that provides the organic and biochemical underpinnings of medicinal and physiological chemistry.
- Applied Sciences taught by clinical experts (CRNAs and MDs) in classroom, and during clinical conferences. Principles reinforced in the clinical area.
- Student friendly faculty who tailor clinical and didactic seminars to meet individual needs
- Small class size with low faculty to student ratio.
Plan of Study
Students begin the didactic curriculum by gaining an understanding of the basic sciences that undergird anesthesia practice.
- These basic science foundational courses (Courses in Yellow) are taught by professors who are experts in their subject. The pharmacology and physiology courses are taken with the medical students in the Brody School of Medicine.
- The physiology course contains subject-appropriate labs. Students learn about pulmonary function testing as they learn about the physiology of the respiratory system with labs in electrocardiography and echocardiography complementing study of cardiac physiology.
- Students have a full 5 sh anatomy course (including cadaver lab) taught by the faculty in the Department of Anatomy.
- Students perform dissections enabling them to understand the various anatomical planes that guide the tasks associated with anesthesia practice such as insertion of central lines, subarachnoid and regional anesthesia blocks.
- Clinical Correlations course accompanies anatomy to form links to clinical application.
The applied science courses (colored blue and green above) are designed to incrementally build upon the basic sciences. These courses include the basic and advanced principles of the applied science of nurse anesthesia in the classroom and clinical area. Simulation is incorporated throughout the program (link to simulation).
