Anesthesia program nationally accredited

Fort Worth, TX

10/31/2006

Program is fourth largest in the nation

TCU's School of Nurse Anesthesia, in the Harris College of Nursing & Health Sciences, exceeded national accreditation standards on the first try and received 10 years of accreditation, the maximum amount of years a program can be accredited.

Kay Sanders, director of the School of Nurse Anesthesia, said if a school does not have credentials, the graduate cannot take the National Certification Examination for Nurse Anesthesia to become a certified registered nurse anesthetist.

“I am very pleased to be the dean at a time when this great accomplishment has occurred,” said Paulette Burns, dean of the Harris College of Nursing & Health Sciences. “The School of Nurse Anesthesia is now the fourth largest program of its kind in the country.”

When a school for nurse anesthesia is created, it must receive permission to be temporarily accredited by the council in order to accept students. The temporary accreditation lasts for one year after the first class graduates. The first class of 53 students graduated in December 2005, and the council sent on-site reviewers to look at the school in April 2006. The school was required to submit a written self-study about the required standards for accreditation with specific standards of how the school had met them.

The standards addressed included how the school fits in with the vision and goals of TCU, the quality of faculty and students and the demographics of the clinical sites where students are registered nurses. One of the standards required is demonstrating the school’s mission statement, which is facilitated by making the community better through improving administration of anesthetics.

“I’m proud of the school’s accreditation and it will help me in the professional world after graduation,” said Bryan Keller, a first-year graduate student of nurse anesthesia. “Truthfully, we weren’t surprised when we found out they got 10 years of accreditation.”

Brian Aydell, also a first-year graduate student in the school, said he came to TCU because of the reputation of Sanders and the school’s faculty. “That’s just telling you that they’ve put something together that’s really strong and is going to be productive and successful,” he said.

Currently, there are three classes, totaling 162 nurse anesthesia students in the school. The students spend their final year in clinical residencies at one of the 13 approved hospitals in Arkansas, California, Florida, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas, under the supervision of certified registered nurse anesthetists or doctors. The first class of nurse anesthesia students started at TCU in the fall of 2003, graduated in December of 2005 and are currently working in the field.

"We are so proud of our nurse anesthesia students and our school," said Sanders. "The students have a busy and challenging 28 months during their time in the program."

Sanders added that this program was desperately needed because there is a critical shortage of nurse anesthetists, especially in rural areas where hospitals depend on nurse anesthetists for surgery and obstetrics. "We have been very excited about our accredited nurse anesthesia program at TCU, with its strong history of nursing education," she said.

Applicants to the 28-month program, one of only a handful in the Southwest, must have a bachelor of science degree, be a licensed registered nurse and have at least one year of critical care experience. During the first year of the program, students study physiology, pathophysiology, pharmacology and chemistry on the TCU campus. During the final year, students complete clinical residencies at one of the approved hospitals around the country.

For more information on TCU's School of Nurse Anesthesia, call 817-257-7887 or visit www.crna.tcu.edu.

(Source: TCU Daily Skiff)