University of Alabama at Birmingham Nurse Anesthesia Program

The Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) in Nurse Anesthesia Pathway is clinically focused to prepare students for the full scope of nurse anesthesia practice. Graduates of this program are prepared to promote patient safety and quality in health care and demonstrate leadership skills in today’s health care setting. The program prepares Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) at the doctoral level as advanced practice nurses to work closely with other health care professionals, including surgeons, dentists and anesthesiologists. In many rural and underserved communities, CRNAs provide the only available anesthesia services. The Nurse Anesthesia Program also received a ten-year accreditation in 2010 by the Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Education Programs (COA). The University of Alabama at Birmingham Nurse Anesthesia Program received continued recognition by the International Federation of Nurse Anesthetists in May 2016 for having completed all requirements of the Anesthesia Program Approval Process.

The Nurse Anesthesia specialty requires 36 months of full-time graduate education culminating in a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree. Students complete 16 months of didactic education, with the first semester completely online and the next three semesters face-to-face at UAB, and a 20-month clinical sequence follows, either in Birmingham, or at a regional clinical site. Upon completion of the program, students are elligible to sit for the national certification exam, NCE.

Attrition Rate

The attrition rate for the class of 2016 was 6%.

NBCRNA Certification Pass Rates

NBCRNA Pass Rates:
2016
1st time pass rate  93%
2nd time pass rate 100%
Overall pass rate 100%
National pass rate  84.5%

Employment Rate

Employment rate within three months for the last graduating class is 100%.

State-of-the-Art Facilities

Currently, students get hands-on experiences with airway management, regional anesthesia and management of major clinical events in a simulated operating room suite using high-fidelity mannequins.

Interprofessionalism

Students learn from an interprofessional faculty and participate in interprofessional learning teams.

Clinical Education

The School of Nursing is part of the state of Alabama’s leading Academic Health Center, which includes the only Magnet-designated adult hospital in Alabama, UAB Hospital, home to the state’s only American College of Surgeons Certified Level I Trauma Center. Children’s of Alabama is also on campus, allowing our students access to complex pediatric patients. We have exceptional clinical component opportunities in Birmingham, Dothan, Huntsville, Montgomery, Tuscaloosa, and Mississippi. Numerous other clinical opportunities are available in Georgia and Tennessee.
Clinical experiences give students hands-on practice in the field of anesthesia. After their clinical experiences, nurse anesthesia graduates can:

• Evaluate and assess patients pre-, post- and intraoperatively
• Plan the anesthetic management and immediate pre and post-anesthesia management
• Develop and implement an appropriate anesthesia plan designated for patients of all ages with a variety of pathological conditions
• Recognize emergency patient conditions and perform skills required during emergency life support situations
• Recognize, evaluate, and prevent anesthesia complications

For more information:

Jacque Lavier, M.Ed.
Program manager
205.975.3115 |  jlavier@uab.edu