DNP Nurse Anesthesia Curriculum

The curriculum of the DNP Nurse Anesthesia concentration provides the student with scientific, clinical, and professional foundations upon which to build a sound and safe clinical practice. This three year (9 semester), full-time program offers concentrated courses in anatomy/physiology, pathophysiology, pharmacology, basic and advanced principles of anesthesia, and professional roles. Courses in anesthesia practice provide clinical practicum encompassing all anesthetic techniques to diverse patient populations. The supervised clinical practice provides students the opportunity to incorporate didactic anesthesia education into clinical practice.  During the clinical experience, students are supervised by anesthesiologists/nurse anesthetists who provide instruction in the safe administration and monitoring of a variety of techniques including both general and regional anesthesia.

This advanced practice nursing option includes client-oriented practice as well as foundation in core courses, which serve to develop clinical scholars. Courses include content in advanced evidence-based practice and proposal writing; data management in healthcare; theories in nursing and other health care disciplines with particular emphasis on utility in practice; and, sound decision-making within legal and ethical frameworks in a complex health care and policy-making system.  Additional skills addressed in the program include information competence, critical thinking, problem solving within an inter-professional framework, advocacy, clinical prevention and population health, and organizational and systems leadership for quality improvement and systems thinking. 

All nurse anesthesia concentration courses are held at Kaiser Permanente in Pasadena, CA and affiliated clinical sites utilizing state-of-the-art facilities. This concentration requires 109 units of full-time study including a doctoral project. Clinical hours are based on competency guidelines from KPSA.