Master's of
Nurse Anesthesia

The 27 month program comprises didactic courses and clinical experience - integration of clinical training with coursework is a key feature of the program, and students begin supervised clinical experience in the first semester.   Clinical experience includes a minimum of 550 anesthesia cases covering a variety of general and regional anesthetics for pediatrics, obstetrics, geriatrics, cardiovascular-thoracic, neurological, plastic otolaryngology, ophthalmology, urology, orthopedics, and radiological procedures. 

The program is fully accredited for the maximum 10 year period by the Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs. The 1999 accreditation site visit acknowledged the value of the partnership between USC School of Medicine and Palmetto Health Richland Medical Center. Both the quality of clinical training and the strong coursework emphasis in basic medical sciences were recognized as strengths of the training program.

 Through careful selection of applicants, quality instruction, and supportive environment, 94% of our admitted students succeed in completing the program and earning their masters degree.   All of our Masters trained graduates have passed the certification examination of the Council on Certification of Nurse Anesthetists and have scored well above the national average.  As the graph below shows, 26% of our graduates have scored at the maximum (600) on the certification examination.