Welcome to the School of Nurse Anesthesia

Message from the Director

Greetings and Welcome to the University of New England School of Nurse Anesthesia!

Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist’s (CRNAs) are anesthesia professionals who safely administer approximately 32 million anesthetics to patients each year in the United States, according to the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) 2009 Practice Profile Survey.

CRNAs are the primary providers of anesthesia services in rural America, allowing healthcare facilities in these medically underserved areas to offer obstetrical, surgical, and trauma stabilization services.

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Since 1984, the School of Nurse Anesthesia at the University of New England, the only program in Maine, has been an integral force in perpetuating this proud legacy by dedicating itself to nurse anesthesia education. Many of our graduates remain in the New England area and are practicing in these rural areas.

Two-Phase Program

At UNE, we offer a 27-month two-phase program. The first phase is conducted on our historic Westbrook College of Health Professions (WCHP) Campus, situated in the picturesque coastal city of Portland. This front-loaded didactic portion involves eight months of classroom study and consists of science and anesthesia courses taught by CRNA, anesthesiologist, and other UNE faculty as well as CRNA and physician instructors from the local community. Our program provides a solid science-based foundation that is built on throughout the program. Evidence-based research is integrated throughout all courses and culminates in a capstone project presented at Research Day in the last semester of the program.

The second phase is the 19-month hospital-based clinical phase of the curriculum. The primary focus is clinical anesthesia training as well as lectures and seminars taught by CRNA's and anesthesiologists via a distance education delivery system. The School has contractual relationships with 31 hospitals throughout the New England area and beyond, which offer a variety of rich, diverse experiences in large teaching, community, and critical access hospitals alike. The graduate student will experience both CRNA-only and anesthesia care team practice environments, which is a unique aspect of this program experience.

With successful completion of the program, students are awarded a Master of Science degree in nurse anesthesia and are eligible to sit for the National Certifying Exam. To date, 100 percent of our students have passed the certifying examination in their first year post-graduation and 100 percent have successfully obtained employment. The program was awarded the full ten year accreditation length by the Council on Accreditation in May 2011 (please refer to the Accreditation and Performance Data tab to the left).

State-of-the-Art Resources

Students have access to state-of-the-art educational resources at UNE, including interactive classrooms equipped with the latest media and computer technology, electronic journals and books, and the Clinical Simulation Program, which features several high-tech patient simulators. Simulation experiences are introduced in the first semester and increase in the second to better prepare the nurse anesthesia student for the clinical environment. To assist our students with the complexity of the clinical setting, they will learn the principles of Crisis Resource Management and apply them in a high fidelity setting in the Simulation Lab.

Technological advances, changing economic patterns, health care reform and a more diverse patient population have made our health care system progressively more complex. As a result, the role of the nurse anesthetist requires close collaboration with other health professionals. We are fortunate to interact with the following programs in an interdisciplinary educational approach: Applied Exercise Science, Athletic Training, Dental Hygiene, Nursing, Physical Therapy, Physician Assistant, Occupational Therapy, and Social Work. The College of Pharmacy and soon-to-be complete College of Dental Medicine make up the rest of the Westbrook College of Health Professions.

I encourage you to peruse our website, visit our campus, or call us if you would like more information related to the UNE nurse anesthesia program or the profession of nurse anesthesia in general.

Sincerely,
Maribeth L. Massie, CRNA, MS, PhD(c)
Program Director and Assistant Clinical Professor

Virtual Tour

While these pages will provide you with information about the School of Nurse Anesthesia, we invite you to take a virtual tour of the Portland Campus and surrounding area to get a sense of the quality of life our students enjoy.