Columbia Nursing to Award its First DNPs in Nurse Anesthesia

The first cohort of students in Columbia Nursing’s Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) in Nurse Anesthesia Program will graduate next month. 

Recognizing the vital role of certified registered nurse anesthetists/anesthesiologists (CRNAs) in advanced practice nursing, the school launched its nurse anesthesia DNP in 2021. Until this year, the program granted MS degrees. 

“As expert leaders in the specialty of anesthesiology, CRNAs must be educated in all of the elements that influence the quality, accessibility, and cost-effectiveness and efficiency of health care delivery,” Program Director Maribeth Massie, PhD, MS ’89, said at the time. “That is the role that the DNP program plays: advanced education in leadership, quality improvement, health care informatics, health care policy, and translational research.”  

Massie leads the program with Associate Director Don Boyd, PhD ’17, MS ’06, an associate professor of nursing at CUMC. 

Students from the program traveled to Gambia this month for their clinical residency, marking the first time that DNP students have participated in the Global Student Clinical Program.