When the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) holds its Annual Congress in Seattle, Wash., later this month, University of Iowa College of Nursing faculty and alumni will be making their presence felt.
This annual meeting is designed to provide a variety of educational topics that will develop the maximum effectiveness of CRNAs in their roles as health care providers in diverse settings across the nation.
Dr. Cormac O’Sullivan, CRNA, ARNP, director of the college’s DNP anesthesia nursing program, will be participating in two podium presentations during the conference: “How do we know what we know. The importance of testing” and “Optimizing OR and Anesthesia Management.”
Additional UI College of Nursing participants and speakers include:
- Heather Bair, DNP, CRNA, associate director of the UI DNP program in Nurse Anesthesia and Chair of the NBCRNA committee that writes the Self Evaluation Exam taken by all soon to graduate CRNAs. Dr. Bair is presenting a poster titled “Implementing the Stanford Emergency Manuals using Simulation.” This poster represents the combined work of four DNP students who were mentored by Dr. Bair during their DNP projects, which spanned four years in rural, critical access hospitals in Iowa.
- Michael Anderson, DNP, CRNA, is the program’s clinical coordinator and also the president of the Iowa Association of Nurse Anesthetists. Dr. Anderson, who recently contributed a chapter to the professionally-renowned reference textbook Nurse Anesthesia, will be presenting a poster on the implications of post-traumatic stress disorder as a causal factor in accentuated delirium by veteran’s waking up from anesthesia. This poster also stemmed from a DNP project completed by a recent graduate of the UI CON DNP program in nurse anesthesia.
- 2017 graduate, Joseph Burds, DNP, CRNA, will present his own DNP project as a poster that is titled “Enhanced Recovery after Surgery: Implementation in Rural Iowa.” For his project, Dr. Burds implemented a 21-step process in Spencer Hospital in Northwest, Iowa, where he observed a reduction in perioperative opioid use, pain scores, and length of stay for patients undergoing major colorectal surgeries.
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About the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists
Founded in 1931 and located in Park Ridge, Ill., the AANA is the professional organization for more than 50,000 nurse anesthetists. As advanced practice nurses, Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) administer approximately 43 million anesthetics in the United States each year. CRNAs practice in every setting where anesthesia is available and are the primary providers of anesthesia care in rural America. They administer every type of anesthetic, and provide care for every type of surgery or procedure, from open heart to cataract to pain management. Visit aana.com to learn more.