Rutgers Nursing Magazine - Summer 2020

A C A D E M I C E X C E L L E N C E AT A TIME WHE N ANE STHE SIA P ROVIDE RS ARE IN SHORT SUP P LY, RUTGE RS SCHOOL OF NURSING OFFE RS THE ONLY P ROGRAM IN NEW J E RSE Y TRA INING THE NE X T GE NE RATION OF NURSE ANE STHE TISTS. Filling the Anesthesia Gap T The idea of undergoing surgery without anesthesia is virtually unthinkable in the 21st century, but a shortage of anesthesia providers, especially in rural and low-income areas, threatens to lengthen the wait (and already has, in some places) for various elective surgeries, from joint replacements to angioplasty. Since 2004, Rutgers School of Nursing has helped to address this shortage, offering the only nurse anesthesia program in the state of New Jersey. Graduates of the program receive a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree, making them eligible to sit for the Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) board certification exam. Once they are board certified, they are credentialed to work alongside surgeons as anesthesiologists do — determining which anesthesia agents to administer and how to deliver them, while managing a patient’s vital signs and pain levels throughout the procedure. R U T G E R S N U R S I N G / S U M M E R 2 0 2 0 22 / 23