FSU Panama City’s proposal to offer a Doctor of Nurse Anesthesia Practice (DNAP) degree through the College of Applied Studies was approved by the State University System of Florida Board of Governors during an online meeting July 21. The first-ever doctoral program at the campus will begin in the summer of 2021.
This approval is the first big step for the program’s implementation, which is also contingent upon the approval of the Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs (COA). The COA will conduct their review in January 2021.
“The DNAP program will be the first doctoral program housed here at FSU Panama City, and we are thrilled for this to come to fruition,” said Amy Polick, associate dean for academic affairs.
The doctoral program will build on the Master of Science in Nurse Anesthesia program, which was accredited and accepted its first students in 2015.
“The faculty has been carefully developing courses for the DNAP to include leadership, population health, enhanced research courses and the addition of more basic science credit hours, simulation and clinical education,” said Stacey VanDyke, program administrator. “The degree requirements will culminate with a scholarly inquiry project.”
Currently, the highly competitive, limited-access master’s program is 28 months and was recently approved to increase class size by 25 percent, from 24 to 30 students. The DNAP aims for a class size of 30 students per cohort, will take 36 months to complete and will expand on the current program that focuses on patient care before, during and after surgical procedures.
“This is a big accomplishment for our campus,” said Polick. “None of it would have been possible without the dedication of our Nurse Anesthesia faculty and the support of our Dean and fellow administrators in Tallahassee while we worked on this new program development.”
For more information on the nurse anesthesia program, contact Stacey VanDyke, DNP, CRNA at 850-770-2100; svandyke@pc.fsu.edu.