- Positions
- CRNA, Anesthesiology
- Clinical Assistant Professor, Family / Community Health Department
- Nurse Anesthesia Program Director, Office of Academics
- Phone
- 304-293-1382
DNP Nurse Anesthetist
Students enrolling in the DNP Nurse Anesthetist program can expect a rigorous, challenging curriculum, heavily based in sciences including anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology, pharmacology, chemistry and physics. This full-time program will require students to take 88 credits over three years or nine continuous semesters. The minimum amount of clinical time is 2,000 hours, but graduating WVU DNP nurse anesthetists will likely exceed that minimum.
The graduate will earn a DNP degree and be eligible to sit for the National Certification Exam (NCE), a board exam administered by the National Board of Certification and Recertification of Nurse Anesthetists (NBCRNA). Candidate graduates who pass the Certification Exam become Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists or CRNAs. Please click here for answers to commonly asked questions about the program.
DNP Nurse Anesthetist Program
- DNP Nurse Anesthetist Progression Plan
- DNP Nurse Anesthetist Course Descriptions
- Application Period: The application period will open annually Aug. 1 and close Nov. 1.
Applicant Qualifications
- Bachelor of Science or graduate degree in Nursing from a nationally accredited nursing program and regionally accredited institution.
- Minimum nursing GPA of at least a 3.0 on a 4.0 scale.
- Cumulative GPA of a 3.0 on a 4.0 scale on all college work attempted.
- Minimum of 1-year post-orientation, and preferably 2-3 years of current, full-time critical care experience.
- Employment in telemetry, cardiac catheterization lab, operating room, post-anesthesia care unit, interventional radiology, or emergency department is not considered critical care experience
- American Heart Association certification in Basic Life Support (BLS) and Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS). Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) certification is required prior to beginning clinical activities.
- Current, unrestricted RN license. (Licensure in West Virginia will be required during the program and possibly one or more of the following states: Maryland, Ohio, and/or Pennsylvania.)
- Shadowing a CRNA prior to applying to the program is strongly recommended.
- Competitive applicants will be invited for an on-campus interview.
- To be considered, applicants will be required to meet all WVU admission requirements in addition to program-specific admission criteria.
- Transfer students must provide a letter of good standing from the Nursing program in which currently enrolled or left incomplete.
Additional student information can also be found in our Student Handbook.
Campus Resources
At the WVU Health Sciences Center, students have access to invaluable resources, including the WV STEPS Center, a state-of-the-art center for experiential learning with simulation.
To learn more, view a tour of the Health Sciences campus or see the video above to learn how our nurse anesthetist students get to practice in a surgical simulation setting prior to practicing in the field.
Accreditation
The WVU School of Nursing DNP Nurse Anesthetist Program is accredited by the Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs (COA) until 2024. Contact the COA by phone at 224-275-9130, on the web at coacrna.org, or at 10275 W. Higgins Rd., Suite 906, Rosemont, IL 60018-5603.