udents Awake to New Opportunities M.S. in Nurse Anesthesia draws skilled nurses looking for more
Students lucky enough to be the one-in-four applicants accepted into Webster's only U.S.-based full-time master's program will then, over the next 2.5 years, administer no less than 1,400 hours of anesthesia. That's in addition to 78 credit hours of course and clinical work, plus professional participation in national, regional, and local conferences.
As Gary Clark, associate director of Webster's Nurse Anesthesia program, notes, that's four times the work most master's programs require.
But ask some of the program's 90 alumni, or the 60 current students, and they'll report that the 30 months of intense work is worth the chance to graduate as skilled, professional, nurse anesthetists and active leaders in the health care field.
"I went into this because I love nursing. I love this field," says second-year student Heidi Lee. "But this is a science-based program, and Webster has a very strong science department. The resources we have in the faculty, the simulations, the library, and the clinical sites are all so strong."
Program director Julie Stone says the choice of clinical sites and resources is just as selective as the choice of students,
who when admitted use the title resident registered nurse anesthetists (RRNA).
"We have significant clinical obligations as well as didactic classroom experiences and professional obligations that keep students very, very busy for two-and-a-half years," Stone says. "But even with all the qualified applicants we get, we can't accept everyone because we must make sure there are clinical sites available to give them the proper experiences providing anesthesia care."
Did You Know?
Nurses first provided anesthesia to wounded soldiers during the U.S. Civil War; formal schools in the field began opening in the 1910s.
70% of anesthesia in the United States is administered by nurse anesthetists.
About 49% of the full-time nurse anesthetists in the United States are men.
By the time they graduate, each Webster nurse anesthesia resident has administered 1,400 hours of anesthesia to patients.
About 40% of Webster nurse anesthesia residents have relocated to St. Louis to enroll in the 2.5-year program.
Students must be registered nurses, working in high-acuity environments, who had a minimum 3.0 GPA in their undergraduate education.
Webster has 14 clinical affiliate sites in urban and rural settingsa key for training students in the varying resources and patient conditions nurse anesthetists face in these two different settings.
Skilled Nurses in High-Pressure Settings
The program, launched in 1997, draws registered nurses who were successful in their undergraduate careers and have experience working in fast-paced, high-pressure settings such as intensive care units.
"We're looking at registered nurses who work in situations where patients can deteriorate very rapidly and nurses must use their expert knowledge to think and react quickly," Stone says.
Such intense environments prepare students for the high-acuity setting in which anesthetists work.
"It amazes me everyday," Stone says. "Patients give you the gift of letting you take care of them: You put them to sleep, you make them helpless to respond, you take away their power over their livesthat's such a significant responsibilityand they trust you as the nurse anesthetist to do that and wake them up again and give them that control back."
But this responsibility and the focus of one-on-one care help draw skilled nurses into the program.
"It's the attraction of making decisions about patient care," Clark says. "The attraction of taking care of high-acuity patients one-on-one. Because when we do an anesthetic, we commit ourselves to that patient during the entire anesthetic and into the recovery room. We only do one patient at a time. But it requires all of your senses and almost all of the knowledge that you have, because each patient is different and each surgical procedure requires different skills."
Moreover, the field is always changing. As Clark notes, when he started practicing 34 years ago, "You could probably count the number of drugs we had on both hands," he says, whereas today there are hundreds of options for managing both anesthesia and all of a patient's systems. Meanwhile, equipment has improved and training has evolved to include newer technologies such as advanced simulation labs in which students practice on interactive mannequins.
Webster Innovative Spirit Helped Launch Program
Both Clark and Stone are grateful Webster had the initiative to launch and support the program in 1997, addressing a critical market need of the entire St. Louis region. "At the time there was no program on this side of the state," Clark says.
Since the pilot class of 10 students, the number of students has grown to 20 per class, and the number of clinical sites has grown from four to 14.
"Webster is a very innovative institution," Stone says. "It has created a great opportunity for this program to grow the way we as the nurse anesthesia faculty felt it should, in that we're developing graduates who are well-rounded practitioners of the future."
The directors are also proud of their clinical sites, where on-site nurse anesthetistsmany of whom are Webster alumniprovide physical and philosophical support and serve as faculty.
"There are over 500 people who supervise our nurse anesthesia residents and receive no reimbursement or other benefits other than being academically challenged and having the pride of seeing the graduate students progress and join them as colleagues," Clark says.
Importantly, the clinical sites are in both urban and rural settings, which pose distinctly different demands.
"It amazes me everyday. Patients give you the gift of letting you take care of them: You put them to sleep, you take away their power over their lives and they trust you to do that, wake them up again, and give them that control back."
"In an urban setting," second-year student Heidi Lee explains, "you have peers and maybe an anesthesiologist with you, you have state-of-the-art facilities, and if you need to transfer a patient, you send them to the next floor. But in a rural area you may be a sole provider. Depending on what the patient needs, you may need to transfer them to a different hospital. You need to determine: Can our hospital handle this patient? Can our surgical board handle this patient? Can the intensive care unit - if you even have one - handle this patient?"
Activists and Leaders
No matter the setting, the mission of Webster's program requires that nurse anesthesia residents not only be skilled clinical practitioners but also leaders and servants to their communities. Whether visiting grade schools and high schools in the Ozarks to discuss health care professions, doing a class-wide service project for Webster Works Worldwide, or organizing professional events on Webster's campus, students are encouraged to develop leadership skills and pursue lifelong learning.
The program's monthly all-class conference also brings students from all three class years together once a month to give presentations and discuss current issues in the field. Students are joined by expert presenters and professionalsmany of whom earn required continuing education credit for the events.
"We reach out to the community in many different ways," Clark says. "We actually live, breathe, and believe the core values that we teach."
Student Spotlight: Heidi Lee Second-year nurse anesthesia resident, class vice president
Heidi Lee, along with class president Rob Walsh, was recently a recipient of the Dean's Service Award. Lee's receiving the award was no accident: she's one of the most active students in a program known for its go-getters. "Heidi is always making things happen," says program director Julie Stone. "She helps her class function as a strong cohort."
The Wisconsin native admits her penchant for organizing activities followed her from her undergrad days at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. "But you know what? If you're organized, you look better, which makes our program look better, which makes us all look better," she says.
"There is so much stress that goes on in this career, but it is rewarding stress," Lee says. "You have someone's life in your hands from the time you start the anesthetic until the time you leave them in the recovery room. You are responsible for how that person recovers and lives the rest of their life. And that person has a family and friendsit's a lot of lives you're impacting, so it's a big responsibility to provide safe, consistent anesthesia."
It is this high-stakes environment that helps classmates in the program form tight, lasting bonds. "It is kind of like a family," says Lee, who's been known to plan the occasional happy hour or two. "With all that responsibility, you've got to make sure you laugh a lot, stay lighthearted. Because you also must be able to see the big picture at all times and know when to focus on things and bear down."
Lee was a nurse for 10 years before she decided to enter nurse anesthesialargely at the impetus of nurse anesthetists with whom she worked. "I've always been the type of student to keep taking classes, to make sure I'm fresh with my skills," she explains. "And this program really requires you to make sure you are current. There is so much information that's constantly coming in and changing the way things are done."
As a nurse in intensive care units and in recovery rooms, Lee also frequently interacted with Webster graduates and faculty. "I could see the quality in the way their patients came out of surgery," she says. "That really says a lot about how they managed their anesthetic. Their patientswhether they were relatively healthy or very sickthey always came out looking good, stable, comfortable. That says something, you know: good goes in, good comes out."
