Direct entry CRNA programs

It is a requirement for accreditation that all nurse anesthesia programs only admit RNs with an appropriate bachelor's degree and 1 year of acute care experience. The accreditation standards would have to change before a 'direct entry' program would be allowed. Many programs require more than the 1 year. From watching SRNAs in the clinical area, I think there is a 'sweet spot' of 3-4 years of ICU experience where the students do the best clinically. Some students with more or less experience struggle, but those with that range rarely do. I can't even imagine throwing a new grad RN into the OR trying to learn anesthesia, it would be doing them a grave disservice. Another important thing about the ICU experience, it shows you whether you enjoy the crisis management. If you don't, then anesthesia will be more stressful than you will enjoy.

Hmm... I thought "direct entry" was the general term for accelerated programs for people who have a non-nursing degree. In this type of program, they receive a BS(N) then an MS(N). Even though they do undergraduate courses first, they are admitted as grad students. Frequently they are admitted straight into a specialty area, such as Adults or peds.

To my knowledge (and I could be wrong about this...) Columbia offers both neonatal nurse practitioner and CRNA as part of their direct entry program, but both programs have a mandatory year of work scheduled into them. They admit into many other areas as well, but those programs don't require the year of work as part of the program.

As you know, it's not possible to become a CRNA without at least one year of critical care experience. So yes, these students are admitted as CRNA students before they ever take a nursing class. However, they have to complete the BS portion first, and do the mandatory year of work that is required before they can do the CRNA portion.

Any Columbia students can correct me if I am wrong about this!

Georgetown offered a direct-entry program for CRNAs in the past, although I'm not sure if they are still doing it. Of course no direct entry program can be the same as those offered to NP's because of the 1 year ICU experience requirement, unique to CRNA certification. Acceptance to the DE program at Georgetown allowed you guaranteed admission to the CRNA program after completion of the nursing cirriculum and the ICU requirement. Additionally, since the applicant already had their bachelor's in another field, they weren't required to complete the full "BSN" if they didn't want to (I think it was only an extra course or two) and they didn't have to take the GRE. I know Georgetown was very selective with who they accepted into the program - the applicant had to be demonstrate a very strong science background and genuine interest in becoming a CRNA. To date, I only know of 2 such people who were admitted under this program, and I know one never went on to anesthesia school. The other was one of my best friend's in my class. She was orginally a Chemistry major at UNC Chapel Hill, who ended up working for 2 years before starting the NA program.

I'm not saying I'm necessarily a proponent of the idea, and not so much because of the lack of ICU experience, but I just don't think anyone can possibly know what kind of advanced degree program is best for them, without having any exposure to nursing. Even when I started in the ICU as a new grad I had no idea what type of Master's degree I wanted to pursue. I initially chose the ICU because of my experiences as a nursing extern and my desire to work with critically ill patients. After exploring all the different APN options, I realized nurse anesthesia was the best match for me, and fortunately, I already had the ICU experience I needed. However that was not a decision I could have made back when I applied to nursing school.

I don't think CRNAs are offended by the question, but I do think that we are very committed to our educational standards. Some in nursing leadership have questioned the standards and wanted to change them so they can take more CRNA students and get more tuition dollars into their college. They point to the NP programs and state that it works just fine, new grad RNs make great students, so nurse anesthesia should do the same. That's what gets CRNAs a little hot. Well, I bet new grad RNs do make great students, do well on tests, don't ask too many questions, and graduate. But, do they make great NPs? They problems I've heard of first hand, from a NP, is that they are not socialized into an advance practice role, (they have difficulty taking charge of a situation, asserting their authority) and in general are missing patient assessment skills. Really seems to be what your roommate was saying as well. As for DE nurse anesthesia programs, the accreditation standards would need to be changed, and why would CRNAs do that?

Actually, it's all based on supply and demand. I just spoke with the dean of nursing in a huge med/nursiing university here. She told me that they've got 18 open seats every year in the CRNA program and that they get around 200 RN applicants every year for those 18 open seats. They want 5-10-15 years of rather elite experience in say a burn ICU, cardio ICU, etc.....THE ONLY REASON THEY CAN GET AWAY WIITH THESE OVERKILL REQS IS SIMPLY SUPPLY AND DEMAND - 200 APPLICANTS AND ONLY 18 SEATS. And that's at a large med/nursing university in the New York area with lots of resources and lots of demand. It has nothing to do with medical competence or expertise. It's all market supply and demand and the fact that they can get away with it because so many are knockng on their door.

The reason there are limited seats is because of access to clinical experience in almost every program. It takes a lot of clinical experience to become a safe CRNA, and the SRNAs need to get a wide variety of experience. MD residency programs also need the clinical experience, so that limits the number of SRNAs that can be admitted to programs. Other factors such as outpatient surgery centers, and for profit heart and orthopedic hospitals that have moved a large percentage of cases out of the community hospitals plays a role.That particular program may have chosen to get down to the 18 by ranking on years of ICU experience. Most SRNAs apply to more than one program so it's a little difficult to know how many applicants there are for each seat. The number of seats nation wide is at an all time high, at close to 2000. Programs are doing everything they can to admit and graduate more well educated CRNAs, and have doubled the number in the past 12 years.

The requirment may be a bit stiff but the reason requirments are so high are
1. the high degree of clinical knowldge and skill REQUIRED to be a CRNA.
2. supply and demand
try another school, if you want the major change that will occur with becoming a CRNA gotta make a big change.

University of Pittsburgh offers a direct entry program that will allow you to complete both the BSN and then the MSN, and you can choose NP, CRNA, CNP, etc.

I looked at this link, and I didn't see anything about a "direct entry" MSN program for non-nurses. I only saw an "early admissions" program for licensed RNs to complete a BSN with the MSN program, and the anesthesia major specifies that you have to have at least 1 year of critical care experience to be eligible -- so, the same requirements as everyone else (as required for accreditation).