Nursing, Doctor of Nursing Practice, Nurse Anesthesia Concentration, DNP

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(109 UNITS)

The Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) is offered through the Southern California CSU DNP Consortium, which includes the CSU campuses of Fullerton, Long Beach and Los Angeles. The DNP is a professional practice degree designed to prepare nurses in advanced practice for complex practice and leadership roles in the clinical setting.

The DNP program is an extremely demanding and rigorous academic experience designed to prepare nurses to assume the highest levels of nursing professional practice. In addition to developing advanced competencies in evidence-based practice, leadership, health policy and advocacy, graduates will develop in-depth skills in a focused area of nursing practice.

The Council of Accreditation for Nurse Anesthesia programs requires that preparation be at the applied doctoral level; students may enter the program with a bachelor's or master's degree in nursing and required critical care experience. For the Nurse Anesthesia concentration, students will complete extensive clinical practice in anesthesia in collaboration with the Kaiser Permanente School of Anesthesia; graduates will be prepared to sit for the national certifying examination for Certified Registered Nurse Anesthesist (CRNA). The Nurse Anesthetist concentration follows a set full-time schedule.

Admission Requirements

Applicants must meet California State University, Fullerton and School of Nursing requirements for admission, which are the following:

Active, unrestricted, RN license with no disciplinary action pending or imposed
Applicants who are currently licensed outside of California are encouraged to review the requirements for California RN Licensure by Endorsement to ensure they meet the California Board of Registered Nursing requirements for California RN Licensure. Note the BRN’s Prerequisite Course requirements for Licensure by Endorsement.
Baccalaureate degree in nursing (BSN) or Master’s degree in Nursing (MSN) from a regionally accredited institution
Minimum GPA of 3.2 on a 4.0 scale in the last 60 semester units of college/university coursework.
Minimum of one year of current full-time clinical registered nursing experience in adult critical care ICU. The Adult ICU requirement may be satisfied by working in any kind of adult ICU environment, such as a medical ICU, surgical ICU, coronary care unit, trauma ICU, cardiovascular ICU, neuro ICU, burn ICU, and CT ICU.The following experience is NOT considered adult critical care: emergency room, post anesthesia care unit, step down unit, cath lab.
CCRN Certification
Documented CRNA shadowing experience
Personal interview
Submit Graduate Record Examination (GRE) Analytical Writing Assessment score, taken within the last five years

Degree Requirements

In order to graduate with a DNP degree, students must meet university, as well as School of Nursing requirements; and must have been classified, advanced to candidacy and completed a satisfactory pattern of study in an approved field. Each student’s program for a doctoral degree (including eligibility, classified standing, candidacy, and award of the degree) must be approved by the Graduate Program Adviser, and the Graduate Studies Office. Details are provided in the DNP Student Handbook.

Students must earn a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.0 in all study plan coursework. No grade lower than a “B” for didactic courses or “CR” (83%) for clinical courses will be counted towards DNP study plan coursework. The Nurse Anesthesia concentration is a cohort-based program, where courses must be completed in the order scheduled by the department. There is no option to repeat coursework to raise a grade point average. Nurse Anesthesia students receiving less than a “B” or “CR” in a study plan course are disqualified from the Nurse Anesthesia concentration.

Core Courses (33 units)

Concentration Courses (30 units)

Clinical Integration and Clinical Residency Courses (46 units)