Honoring excellence in nurse anesthesia

Since the first formal nurse anesthesia education program was established nearly 120 years ago in Portland, Ore., much has progressed in the profession and health care. Similarly, the University of Cincinnati College of Nursing Nurse Anesthesia program, established as the Cincinnati General Hospital School of Anesthesia in 1945 and currently ranked No. 11 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, has evolved to meet changing demands by preparing nurse anesthetists ready to meet with excellent clinical and leadership skills.

A significant milestone in the profession’s advancement was the establishment of the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology (AANA), in 1931. The organization’s mission to advance, support and protect nurse anesthesiology has raised the bar for the profession, its practitioners and educators through several initiatives throughout the years, including tightening accreditation standards for nurse anesthesia programs in the mid-70s.

Among the new accreditation standards, nurse anesthesia schools were required to extend their programs to 24 months and instructors were expected to begin completing continuing education in curriculum, instruction and testing. In addition, all full-time instructors were encouraged to have a bachelor’s degree. General Hospital's nurse anesthesia school quickly met these new standards and, in the coming decades, remained well ahead of accreditation requirements—establishing its Master of Science in Nursing program with an anesthesia major seven years before programs were required to teach at the master’s level and its Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program nearly a decade before required.

As the role of nurse anesthetists has experienced global growth and recognition, the college’s nurse anesthesia program has broadened its horizons to form international partnerships and became one of only 13 non-physician anesthesia programs/schools in the world to receive level three accreditation—the highest level—by the International Federation of Nurse Anesthesia (IFNA), an organization dedicated to the advancement of educational standards and practice for anesthesiology across the globe. 

The nurse anesthesia profession has grown from informal participation in anesthesia care to its status as an integral part of the health care system and continues to evolve with an emphasis on education, autonomy and patient safety. Likewise, much progress has taken place throughout the eight decades since the UC program was founded. But one aspect has not changed: the program’s tradition of producing top-notch nurse anesthetists who make an impact wherever they go.