Can someone please explain this educational pathway?
Back in the 80's and earlier, nurse anesthesia was almost exclusively a certificate-only program. Very few offered degrees because, well, very few nurses had degrees to begin with. Most nurses back then went to a 2-3 yr "diploma" nursing program - no degree, just a diploma. And, many if not most nurse anesthesia programs were relatively small programs based in community hospitals, not nursing schools or major medical centers. Of course their were exceptions like Mayo and others, but there were plenty of schools run in hospitals, and their primary purpose was to train their own steady stream of anesthetists. Many trained and then became employed by the same hospital. Many thousands of nurses went straight from nursing school directly into a nurse anesthesia program. These progams granted a "certificate in nurse anesthesia". Not a degree, just a piece of paper saying they finished their program.
Note that until AA's came along in the 70's granting master's degrees in anesthesia, virtually no CRNA's had master's degrees (OK, a few). The norm however was nursing diploma and anesthesia certificate. There were, and still are, many thousands of practicing CRNA's that have no nursing degree and no anesthesia degree whatsoever - diploma and certificate, that's it. If they have a degree, they got it later.
In the 80's, there started to be more degree-granting programs for CRNA's and dozens of the certificate-only programs disappeared over the next 10-15 years. The programs that remained started affiliating with college and university nursing schools so they could start granting degrees. It's important to note - the requirements for nurse anesthesia students to hold a BSN and for the programs to grant a master's degree, is a relatively new creation that didn't happen until the 1990's. They would like you to think that each and every CRNA in the country holds at least a Master's degree. They do not. They're easy to find - nurses LOVE initials after their name, the more the better. If they're "just" a CRNA, that's usually all you'll see. But if they have a degree, you'll likely see it all - Betty Boop, CRNA, BSN, MSN, CCRN, ARNP, etc., ad nauseum.
Now the move is on to the absurd DNAP, which is supposed to be the standard by 2025 - interestingly, the AANA strongly opposed this concept, but now are grudgingly embracing it. Why? Well the Doctor Nurse, of course. It would be at least a little improvement if they actually included more clinical education in this new concept. But no - the extra year is taken up almost in its entirety by nursing theory, political concepts, and the business of anesthesia. Shoot, it can even be done online as an upgrade, masters to DNAP. It will be interesting to see if this slows down the rate of CRNA education - some of these programs barely function at the masters level, and upgrading to the DNAP takes more faculty with higher degrees and a lot more money. It also increases the cost of their education significantly - pretty stupid without a corresponding increase in clinical exposure, particularly in this economic climate. More money for education, for anyone, for anything? Doesn't seem likely. Of course it will be interesting to see how it pans out. The associate degree RN was supposed to disappear 30 years ago and the BSN was supposed to be the "entry level" for nursing. It never happened.
