About the Doctor of Nurse Anesthesia Practice - Post-Master's Program

two women pose at a graduation

The Medical University of South Carolina Anesthesia for Nurses (AFN) post-master’s Doctor of Nurse Anesthesia Practice (DNAP) program is designed for Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNA) who already hold a master’s degree in nurse anesthesia or a related field who want to take the next step. The program is delivered using a hybrid model of online and on-campus educational sessions. Students are on campus for 1 or 2 weekends per semester. Graduates of the DNAP program are prepared to create and lead new models of care delivery for communities locally, across the nation, and around the world. The DNAP program offers a diverse selection of course work from managing information systems to crisis simulation in anesthesia.

The objectives of this program are to:

  • Produce CRNAs who have the educational tools to assume leadership roles in health care.
  • Expand the educational experiences of CRNAs with additional contact in pain management and in crisis simulation.
  • Develop current clinical practitioners skills in creating an evidence-based practice founded in scholarly research, best practices, and evaluation of outcomes.

Through interprofessional collaboration, students in the DNAP program will have access to leaders in health administration education and will attend classes with other non-nursing health care professionals. The variety of course work and diverse faculty backgrounds will support a wide variety of capstone project options.