Nurse Anesthesia Program
1540 Alcazar St. Suite 223 Los Angeles 90033
(323) 442-2012
FAX: (323) 442-1701
Email: uscnap@usc.edu
www.usc.edu/medicine/anesthesia

Program Director: Michele E. Gold

Assistant Program Director: Theresa Norris

Chair and Professor: Philip Lumb

Professor of Pediatrics and Anesthesiology: Randall Wetzel

Professors of Clinical Anesthesiology: Abdolmajid Bayat; Mary Joseph; Ronald Katz; Vladmir Zelman

Associate Professor: Wynne Waugaman

Associate Professors of Clinical Anesthesiology: Jeffrey Lee; Rajesh Patel; David Raphael; Earl Strum

Assistant Professors of Clinical Anesthesiology: Rudolfo Amaya; Dimiter Arnaudov; Maxim Benbassat; Armin Azad; Kari Cole; James Daniel; Ralph Harding; Leonard Kaufman; William Loskota; Jana Planner; Elizabeth Wong

Instructors of Clinical Anesthesiology: Gabriel Aron; Roberta Ashley; James Carey; Jennilyn Casalme; Taposh Chatterjee; Nancy Christiano; Charlotte Garcia; Gligor Gucev; Michele Idera; Monique Jabbour; J. Patel; Clare Thomas; Chris Winckler

The nurse anesthesia program prepares qualified nurses in the specialty of nurse anesthesia and qualifies the graduate to sit for the certification examination given by the Council on Certification of Nurse Anesthetists.The graduate attains a high level of clinical competence with an extensive body of didactic knowledge relevant to the specialty and advanced practice nursing.

Students enrolling in the M.S., Nurse Anesthesia course of study must complete the nurse anesthesia core curriculum and specialty practicum. The program consists of 44-49 units and is completed in 24 months of continuous enrollment (six semesters). There is an optional one-semester clinical fellowship offered in the seventh semester of enrollment to provide specialty training in a clinical area of choice: critical care, cardiovascular, neuro, ambulatory anesthesia or pain management. Students may sit for the certification examination during this semester.

The program is based in the Department of Anesthesiology, and classroom instruction is provided by nurse anesthesia program faculty and faculty from the Department of Anesthesiology and the Department of Physiology and Biophysics within the Keck School of Medicine, as well as clinical faculty from the program clinical sites. Clinical training occurs at Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center, Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Long Beach Veterans’ Administration Medical Center and West Los Angeles Veterans’ Administration Medical Center for the primary rotations. Advanced rotations occur at those sites, as well as Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles, Hudson Comprehensive Care Center and Northridge Pain Management and Surgery Center.

General requirements for admission include a minimum 3.0 undergraduate grade point average, a minimum score on the verbal and quantitative sections of the Graduate Record Examinations of 1000, current licensure as a Registered Nurse, a bachelor’s degree in nursing or a related field from an accredited university or college, submission of an essay describing the applicant’s career goals, professional resume and three letters of reference. Competitive applicants will be interviewed and must demonstrate an acceptable understanding of the roles and responsibilities of certified registered nurse anesthetists. Selections are made on the basis of the formal interview and consideration of a variety of factors which include academic record, type and amount of clinical experience and professionalism.

The admission requirements also include appropriate undergraduate course work in biology, anatomy, physiology, chemistry, biochemistry, physics and statistics (or nursing research). A minimum of one year of experience in critical care nursing as a registered nurse is required. Licensure as an RN in California and current BCLS, ACLS and PALS certifications are required prior to enrollment. Conversational Spanish is strongly recommended.

During the program, students must have a personal computer or notebook with Internet access. The primary mode of program communication is email. Computer accounts are provided by the university to all students and can be activated online.

Prospective students should contact the program’s admission office, (323) 442-2012 or uscnap@usc.edu for evaluation of previous course work and clinical background.

Admission procedures follow the information in the Admission section of this catalogue. The applicant can obtain the USC application online at www.usc.edu/admission or from the Office of Admission at (213) 740-1111. A supplemental nurse anesthesia program application must be completed and can be obtained from the program office at (323) 442-2012.

All students will take the Self-Evaluation Examination (SEE) administered by the Council on Certification of Nurse Anesthetists at the end of the first clinical year. Student scores must be above the national mean for advancement into the research capstone experience.