Nurse Anesthesia Program
History, Mission and Philosophy of the Program

Our nurse anesthesia program is steeped with a rich history evolving from a hospital-based program at Pennsylvania Hospital, our nation’s first hospital, to its current position within the University of Pennsylvania, School of Nursing.  In 2003, we became the nation’s first and only fully-integrated, university-based nurse anesthesia program housed within an Ivy League school of nursing. 

Penn’s Nurse Anesthesia Program provides an evidence-based curriculum with a multidisciplinary approach to didactic education, providing students with a strong science foundation for practice.  New skills are acquired and refined through the use of interactive sessions that occur in our simulated operating room housed within the Brunner Instructional Technology Center.  These sessions become increasingly complex to reflect the student’s progression through the curriculum.  In addition to our didactic resources, we have assembled the best clinical preceptors in our region’s foremost medical centers to afford students the opportunity to apply their technical skills and their critical thinking abilities to real-life clinical situations.

Our school and program philosophies mesh together.  Our mission is to create knowledge through research, to produce nursing leaders, and to define nurse anesthesia practice.

At the completion of our 24-month, full-time, accredited program students are eligible to sit for the American Association of Nurse Anesthetist’s Council on Certification examination.  Our graduates are currently working in premier healthcare settings across the region and the country.