Nurse Anesthesia Program

The Nursing Anesthesia program resides in the School of Nursing at the Louisiana Sate University Health Sciences Center. The Health Sciences Center is one of five professional schools comprising the academic health sciences center in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Louisiana State University system initiated nursing education in 1929, and the School of Nursing was established as a separate and autonomous school in December, 1968. The Master of Nursing Degree offering was approved March 23, 1972, with the first degrees conferred in May, 1975. The Nursing Anesthesia program is a member of the Adult Nursing Department (see organizational chart).

The Nursing Anesthesia Program consists of 115 graduate credit hours leading to the Master of Nursing degree with a specialization in Nurse Anesthesia. The curriculum integrates health sciences with nursing sciences to prepare students as advanced practitioners in nurse anesthesia who are eligible for certification as a certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA) and licensure as Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs). Students are prepared to assume leadership roles in anesthesia and provide anesthesia care to patients in medically underserved areas. Students are trained to integrate research into their anesthesia practice.

The Nursing Anesthesia Program is a 32 month course of continuous study. Students do not follow the traditional semester format upon entering the anesthesia practicum series. To provide students with necessary clinical hours to accomplish course and clinical objectives and comply with the required number and types of anesthesia cases by the Council on Accreditation (COA), each semester is continuous with the next semester (block format) with vacation and holidays appropriately dispersed on an individual student basis.

For further information about this program of study, please contact the Office of Student Affairs:

Phone Number: 504-568-4113
Email Address: bdukes@lsuhsc.edu