Nurse Anesthesia MSN to DNP Major

Return to: School of Nursing

This online, practice‐focused 36 credit doctoral program will prepare nursing leaders for the highest level of clinical nursing practice beyond the initial preparation in the discipline. Applicants will be CRNAs with a master’s degree. Throughout the program students will develop clinical, organizational, economic, and leadership skills. Specialty focused and core courses of the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing Nurse Anesthesia Program MSN to DNP curriculum will focus on evidence‐based practice, organizational and systems leadership, informatics, health care policy and finance, patient safety and population health, interprofessional collaboration for improving patient and population health outcomes and genetics and molecular therapeutics.

Directed cognates may be used to expand upon the students’ knowledge base within the DNP project focus area. The program will culminate in a DNP project that reflects the synthesis and application of knowledge gained throughout the curriculum. DNP project areas will include quality improvement project, program or practice evaluation, development and testing of an evidence-based clinical protocol, development of policy or legislative initiative, surveillance project, and simulation project.

A sample program plan for full-time study is provided below. Depending on courses completed during the previous MSN program, additional coursework may be required.