Department of Nurse Anesthesia receives HRSA grant

By Malorie Burkett

The VCU Department of Nurse Anesthesia in the School of Allied Health Professions has been awarded an Advanced Education Nursing Grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Division of Nursing. 

The three-year award exceeds $700,000 in funding to support the department's ongoing initiatives in the educational preparation of Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) in and among the coalfields of Appalachia through state-of-the-art distance education.  

"Under this new initiative, VCU, in concert with regional partners in the Carilion Health System, will expand and enhance rural education by establishing a second Southwest Virginia outreach site in Roanoke, enabling the program to increase the number and preparation of CRNAs working in rural and underserved communities,” said Michael Fallacaro, D.N.S., chair of the Department of Nurse Anesthesia and principal investigator.

To address the need for CRNAs in rural Appalachian communities, the department launched a rural nurse anesthesia education outreach program in 2004. The program recruited registered nurses, primarily from rural and medically underserved areas of Virginia, to become CRNAs through VCU’s distance learning training site located at the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center in Abingdon. 

"The consequences of a CRNA shortage for small hospitals in rural America can be dire. Without CRNAs, some small hospitals are unable to provide anesthesia services. Some are forced to cut back on elective surgeries, delay surgeries and close some of their operating rooms. 

“Patients may have to travel long distances to access the health care services they need when the local, rural hospital cannot recruit sufficient numbers of anesthetists to provide anesthesia services,” said Fallacaro.

During training, students receive their curriculum of study via two-way synchronous distance education from Richmond. Additionally, students access human simulator training experiences, cultural competency training and clinical training rotations at 10 distance rural facilities to prepare them to work in Appalachia and other rural or medically underserved areas. 

To date, every student from the first three graduating classes was recruited from a rural area, educated in that same area, passed the national certification examination and has chosen to take employment in the Appalachian coalfields of Southwest Virginia or rural areas in nearby Kentucky and Tennessee. 

The first cohort of VCU Roanoke nurse anesthesia graduate students has begun studies this fall semester and will earn a Master of Science in Nurse Anesthesia degree or optional Doctor of Nurse Anesthesia Practice degree.

VCU’s Department of Nurse Anesthesia in the School of Allied Health Professions has been ranked the No. 1 graduate nurse anesthesia program in the nation by U.S. News and World Report since 2004. For more information, visit http://www.sahp.vcu.edu/nrsa/.