Oakland University’s Beaumont Graduate Program of Nurse Anesthesia has been recognized as sixth in the United States in the 2004 edition of "U.S. News and World Report’s America’s Best Graduate Schools."

The program, which provides an exceptional educational environment for training certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs), started in 1991 as a collaborative initiative to address the nurse anesthesia shortage. Presently, 43 percent of Beaumont’s CRNA staff are graduates of the program, and they are looking to hire more from the class graduating this month.

Currently, there are 86 graduate programs of nurse anesthesia in the United States with four in Michigan.

The national recognition comes on the heels of being awarded a $300,000 grant to fund the Beaumont Hospital Nurse Anesthesia Education Rural Initiative.

The major objectives of the initiative are to expand the supply of CRNAs in Oakland and rural counties in Michigan through the incorporation of distance-learning partnerships, online course instruction, simulator technology and clinical affiliations.

The grant will be used to support salaries, equipment and supplies to meet the objectives of the project.

OU’s Beaumont Graduate Program of Nurse Anesthesia is a 28-month program that exceeds minimum accreditation standards in both clinical and classroom, according to Catherine Vincent, interim associate dean of the School of Nursing. For example, 450 anesthetics cases are required to take the national certifying examination. Students of the OU program graduate with about 1,000 cases.

The program offers extensive pharmacology course work, gross anatomic dissection and research opportunities beyond what is required by national standards. The program also offers additional breadth in the areas of patient safety, nursing theory, health care policy and cultural diversity.

CRNA faculty and graduate students have published extensively in peer-reviewed journals, authored chapters in books and published complete anesthesia textbooks as well as conducted numerous professional lectures and poster presentations.

The program is accredited by the Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs and the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. Following the most recent accreditation visit in March 2002, the program was granted a full 10-year accreditation without recommendations, the maximum number of years possible.

For more information on the program or the grant, contact Catherine Vincent at (248) 370-4483 or vincent@oakland.edu.