Doctor of Nurse Anesthesia Practice

The post-Master's DNAP program consists of 36 semester hours in 24 months (6 semesters) with each semester consisting of six (6) semester hours. The DNAP program is accredited by the Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs and is offered entirely on-line using Moodle.

The objective of the post-Master's DNAP program is to prepare qualified certified registered nurse anesthetists as expert clinicians who utilize leadership, research and information technology to promote the highest quality of anesthesia care. Post Master's DNAP students are experienced CRNAs who desire to earn the terminal degree while continuing to pursue their professional careers as anesthesia providers.

Graduates of the program will be able to:

• Demonstrate application of leadership principles to meet the challenges of complex anesthesia care in a variety of clinical environments.
• Apply physiological and pharmacological principles to demonstrate advanced clinical reasoning and judgment in the management of complex clinical situations in nurse anesthesia practice.
• Design effective strategies for influencing health policy to achieve excellence in anesthesia care while maintaining an ethical and moral framework
• Critique, synthesize, and apply pertinent scientific data to nurse anesthesia practice to enhance quality patient outcomes in a culturally sensitive manner.
• Effectively communicate with patients, families and all individuals who influence patient care.
• Utilize health information technology to interpret and extrapolate data pertinent to complex anesthesia care.
• Develop effective strategies for analyzing the economic aspects of nurse anesthesia practice.
• Demonstrate scholarship by developing, completing, and disseminating results of a focused clinical project.

The final project (Capstone Project) is intended to be an intensive, active learning project, requiring significant effort in the planning and implementation, as well as preparation of a substantial final written work product. The Capstone Project will focus on assessment, synthesis and in-depth analysis of a clinical problem or topic pertinent to anesthesia care and/or patient outcomes to be presented as a scholarly work. The Capstone proposal can be designed as a research, quality assurance, or extensive project that will benefit the practice of anesthesia.