Program Description

Integrated, Innovative Curriculum

The 27-month Masters of Nurse Anesthesia program comprises didactic courses and clinical experience-integration of clinical training with coursework is a key feature of the program. Students begin a 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.

Program Success

Through careful selection of applicants, quality instruction, and supportive environment, 97% 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 at or above the national average. The first-time rate for passing the Certification Exam has been 92% for the past five years.

Cooperative Program

A School of Nurse Anesthesia Program was first established in 1969 at Palmetto Health Richland Hospital. The School of Medicine faculty has served as professors in the program since 1985, instructing required courses in pharmacology and physiology. A cooperative program between the School of Medicine and Palmetto Health Richland established a Master's of Nurse Anesthesia degree program in 1993. There are now more than 200 masters alumni.

In addition to the partnership between Palmetto Health Richland, the Nurse Anesthesia program has been expanded to include a collaborative effort with Greenville Hospital System. The partnership provides distance education courses and clinical experiences for nurse anesthesia students. Tuition and fees for both the traditional courses and those provided by distance education are the same.

Accreditation

The program is fully accredited for the maximum 10-year period by the Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs. Both the quality of clinical training and the strong coursework emphasis in basic medical sciences were recognized as strengths of the training program.