Current nurse anesthesia program admissions requirements usually focus on high grade point averages, Graduate Record Examination scores, number of years of acute care experience, and a personal interview to assist in predicting those who will succeed in these intensive academic and clinical programs. Some people believe these criteria may not be sufficient in predicting success and have suggest...

Quality medical care is a clinical and public health imperative, but defining quality and achieving improved, measureable outcomes are extremely complex challenges. Adherence to best practice invariably improves outcomes. Nonphysician medical providers (NPMPs), such as physician assistants and advanced practice nurses (eg, nurse practitioners, advanced practice registered nurses, certified regi...

A qualitative inquiry was launched to explore occupational stress among Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs). The purpose of this study was to examine how job-related stress manifests itself among CRNAs regarding their ability to relate to their peers. Twenty CRNAs and 15 of their coworkers from North Carolina and Tennessee participated in the study. To help confirm emerging findings...

We conducted this qualitative study to understand the experiences of military Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) working with service personnel who have traumatic brain injury (TBI) and/or posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and are emerging from general anesthesia. This study is important because there are no studies in the literature that describe the experiences of anesthetists...

This article describes development of the Pecka Grading Rubric (PGR) as a strategy to facilitate and evaluate students' higher-order thinking in discussion boards. The purpose of this study was to describe psychometric properties of the PGR. Rubric reliability was pilot tested on a discussion board assignment used by 15 senior student registered nurse anesthetist enrolled in an Advanced Princip...

Certified Registered Nurses Anesthetists (CRNAs) are airway experts who can stabilize the condition of trauma patients with skills acquired from practice as an anesthetist. CRNAs practice in a variety of settings; one of the most challenging is the rural hospital. Anesthetists have a wide range of skills. However, the setting in which CRNAs practice may influence the skills needed. This study w...

INTRODUCTION To understand the challenges facing advanced practice nursing today and determine a path for the future, it is essential to look to the past. This chapter presents some highlights of the history of advanced practice nursing in the United States from the late nineteenth century to the present. It examines four established advanced practice rolescertified registered nurse anesthetist...