Florida State University Panama City will begin offering a doctorate in nurse anesthesia next May, pending approval by the National Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs, which will conduct its review in January. It will be the first doctoral program at the campus, says program administrator Stacey VanDyke.

"The faculty has been carefully developing courses for the DNAP (doctorate of nurse anesthesia program) to include leadership, population health, enhanced research courses and the addition of more basic science credit hours, simulation and clinical education,” says VanDyke.

The DNAP program initially will begin with a maximum class size of 30, and course completion will take 36 months.

Clinically, there is no difference in responsibilities or privileges between a master’s level and doctorate level nurse anesthetist. “The only difference is a health care worker must have a doctorate to be a program director and teach in a doctoral program,” says VanDyke.

To accommodate the doctoral program two instructors will be added to the current doctorate-level faculty members.

 

Read more in Florida Trend's November issue.
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