UTC nursing anesthesia students and faculty participate in a central line workshop
photo by Angela Foster/UTC
The UTC/Erlanger Health System Nurse Anesthesia Concentration has achieved a significant milestone, being granted a 10-year continued accreditation through spring 2034 by the directors of the Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs.
The COA recognized the School of Nursing concentration for providing graduate-level curriculum leading to the award of a Doctor of Nursing Practice.
School of Nursing Director and UTC Chief Health Affairs Officer Chris Smith said the continued accreditation is a testament to the program’s unwavering commitment to providing high-quality education in the field of nurse anesthesia.
“There is such a shortage of certified registered nurse anesthetists in the state and the country, making this a critical program,” Dr. Smith said. “We have had a track record for decades of providing an excellent education for our students who graduate from our program and are ready to go to work immediately. They can handle the most critical cases the day they walk into their new position in the hospitals.
“The accreditation just confirms that an outside organization recognizes the excellence in education that our faculty provides for the students.”
The UTC Nurse Anesthesia program offers a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree through a full-time 36-month curriculum. Rigorous coursework with extensive clinical experiences prepares UTC DNP Nurse Anesthesia students for the national certification exam offered by the National Board of Certification and Recertification for Nurse Anesthetists.
Once certified, UTC graduates may begin work immediately as certified registered nurse anesthetists.
Over the last five years, 93.3 percent of enrollees in the UTC nurse anesthesia program graduated—while 92.3 percent passed the National Certification Exam on their first attempt.
“Dr. Linda Hill has a team of practicing CRNAs, so they are current in best practices,” Dr. Smith said. “Because of that, our students leave here ready to go to work without missing a beat.”
Dr. Hill has been the program coordinator and administrator of the nurse anesthesia concentration since coming to UTC in 2005. This marked the second time the concentration earned 10-year accreditation under her direction.
When she first arrived at the University, the nurse anesthesia concentration was a master’s program. During her time overseeing the program, Dr. Hill has helped shepherd the transition to the DNP curriculum.
“We were approved and started our first group of Doctor of Nursing Practice students in January 2022. Our first doctoral cohort graduates in December, so we’re pretty excited about that,” said Dr. Hill—a nurse for 37 years and nurse anesthesia educator for 27. She was inducted as a Fellow of the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology in 2022.
“It was a major undertaking to do that,” she continued, “but we took that opportunity to develop courses that gave our students the ability to take courses that are really important to today’s practice. It allows them to expand as we learn more things about health care.”
To learn more about the program, visit the UTC Nurse Anesthesia webpage.