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Project Name: Nurse Anesthetist Traineeships (A22)
Applicant Title: NORTHERN KENTUCKY UNIV
Abstract Text: 1. Brief Overview of the Project: The Northern Kentucky University (NKU) College of Health and Human Services (CHHS) requests $2,800,000 total for 4 years ($700,000 each year-1, 2, 3, & 4) of funding from the Nurse Anesthesia Traineeship (NAT) Program. NAT funds will provide support for tuition and fees for full-time trainees. NKU is only one of two nurse anesthesia programs in the State of Kentucky, where the demand for anesthesia providers is rising exponentially. In Kentucky, there are twice as many CRNAs practicing than any other anesthesia professional. Currently, CRNAs are providing anesthesia services in all 75 counties across the State of Kentucky. CRNAs are the primary providers of anesthesia care in rural America, including 17 Critical Access Hospitals located in those counties. The NKU NAP curriculum includes unique opportunities for SRNAs to provide quality healthcare access at rural clinical sites and uses innovative technology to prepare future CRNAs to manage a wide variety of clinical conditions. 2. Target Population: 60 student registered nurse anesthetists (SRNAs) enrolled full-time in the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program at NKU. 3. Objectives: The purpose of this application is to provide tuition assistance to SRNAs at NKU Nurse Anesthesia Program (NAP) who demonstrate need and desire to obtain clinical experience at rural clinical sites. Due to the rigorous demands of this program, students are unable to maintain gainful employment for most of the program. NAT funding would help NAP students to focus on their education by decreasing their financial burden. The objectives include; (1)increase supply of qualified working CRNAs by providing traineeship support, (2) increase the diversity of the CRNA workforce to better address the needs of the populations they serve by recruiting students from diverse populations, (3) enhance training capacity by addressing health equity and expanding clinical training sites through partnerships, and (4) expand distribution and access of CRNAs serving in rural, urban, and tribal underserved communities. The goal of this application is to develop a well-functioning training program that provides support for NKU SRNAs to focus on their education by decreasing their financial burden. 4. Evaluation plan with outcome measures: Evaluation of the program will be based on (1) written request from the student to the project director for financial assistance demonstrating financial need, (2) signing a written agreement for clinical placement at a rural site, (3) maintaining academic standing with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0, (4) maintaining satisfactory clinical performance evaluations from clinical preceptors through the Typhon Group Evaluation system, and (5) maintaining full-time academic standing with no written reprimands from NAP faculty.