director’s message · the second annual student lobby day was held at the kansas state capitol in...

It is my pleasure to greet the KU Nurse Anesthesia Program alumni! Thanks to an ambitious Capstone Project by two of our senior students, Jeslyn Scott and Gina Pecaro, the first KU Nurse Anesthesia Program Newsletter is a reality. My name is Donna Nyght, and I am a 1993 graduate of the KU Program. A lot has changed since my days as an SRNA, and I am very excited about the direction of the Program. We currently boast six full time CRNA faculty members: Karri Arndt, Shelley Barenklau, Paul Bennetts, Paul Hertel, Donna Nyght, and Chris-tita Weber. Dr. Carol Elliott, our long-time Program Director and Department Chair, is now in phased retirement. Carol continues to teach didactic courses, providing much needed assistance to the current full-time faculty, all of whom are enrolled in DNP or PhD programs. As many of you know, all nurse anesthesia programs must transition to entry level DNP (Doctor of Nursing Practice) by 2025. A few programs in the country have already made this leap, and our program will begin planning for the DNP

curriculum in early 2011. It is difficult for the faculty to concentrate on changing the program while enrolled in their own doctoral studies, but four (Karri, Shelley, Paul H., and Donna) hope to finish the DNP in December 2010. Paul B. and Christita are working toward PhDs, necessitating a few more years of study. Changing the Program to an entry level DNP will require approval from the KU Graduate School and the Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Education Programs (COA). At this point, I cannot predict the feasibility of a DNP completion program for our graduates prior to the 36 month curriculum (first graduates in 2008). Needless to say, planning for and changing to the entry level DNP will be the next big challenge for the KU Nurse Anesthesia Program faculty mem-bers! There have been many changes in the Program and it would be impossible to discuss all of them in a newsletter. One of the most notable changes involves clinical at KU Hospital. Three years ago, the Anesthesiology Department had one CRNA employee. Now there are 17 staff CRNAs, five of whom are graduates from our 2010 class. CRNA staff at KU Hospital has greatly changed the dynamics of clinical at our home hospital, and I am very thankful for the CRNA mentoring now occurring at KU. In October 2009, the Program participated in the required COA site visit for the purpose of reaccreditation. Our Program had last received the full 10 year accreditation in 1999, so it was time for this anxiety producing (for me, at least) event. Since I joined the faculty in 2004, this was my first experience with writing a self study and hosting the accreditors. I am thrilled to report that the visit went extremely well, and we again received the longest possible accreditation of 10 years. As a matter of fact, the following statement was made in the letter from the COA Execu-tive Director, Dr. Frank Gerbasi:

“Finally, the COA would like the program to know that very few programs are granted accreditation with no progress report required. Even fewer programs have achieved the maximum accreditation of ten years. Therefore, the directors of the COA are particularly pleased to offer their congratulations to everyone at the program who has demonstrated their commitment to meeting the requirements for continued accreditation. Please accept the COA’s congratulations on the program's performance in achieving maximum accreditation status.”

In closing, I want to encourage all of you to become involved and stay connected to your Program. I encourage you to participate in Program and Alumni activities, mentor our SRNAs or any SRNAs, and consider a monetary gift to support students enrolled at your alma mater. I look forward to meeting or reconnecting with KU nurse anesthetists!

DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE

Calendar of Events: SEPTEMBER 11, 2010 KU NURSE ANESTHESIA ALUMNI TAILGATE LAWRENCE, KS OCTOBER 8-9, 2010 KUMC ALUMNI REUNIONWEEKEND KANSAS CITY, KS WWW.KUMC.EDU/ALUMNI/REUNION OCTOBER 23-24, 2010 FALL KANA MEETING WICHITA, KS WWW.KANA.ORG/CALENDAR.SHTML

HISTORICAL TIMELINE 2-3

STUDENT MISSION TRIP 4

STUDENT INVOLVEMENT IN LEGISLATION

4

FACULTY IN THE SPOTLIGHT 5

PUBLICATIONS 5

EVENTS 6

Inside this issue:

Fall 2010 KU Nurse Anesthesia Alumni Newsletter

1

1974

The Program became

part of the School of

Allied Health

1979

First class to graduate with

Bachelor’s degrees

1966

The Program of Nurse Anesthesia was initiated at

the University of Kansas, as a certificate

Program, under the sponsorship of the Department of

Anesthesiology

1967

The first four students were admit-ted into the Program,

under Jack Cleverdon,

CRNA, Chair,

1967-1973

1968

The AANA granted

the Program

full accredita-

tion

1960 1970 1980

Carol Elliot, CRNA, PhD Chair– Nurse Anesthesia 1973 - 2007

1987

First class to graduate with

Master’s degrees

1987

First class of Master’s-

level degree

completion students to graduate

KU Nurse Anesthesia Alumni Newsletter

2


1993

First satellite Program

established at Mount Carmel Medical Center

2003

Second satellite Program

established at Overland

Park Regional Medical Center

2007

Donna Nyght,

CRNA, MS appointed

Department Chair

2008

Programs with Mt. Carmel,

Overland Park and BryanLGH

ended

1990 2000 2010

Program Faculty Circa 1990

2010

Program granted full

ten year reaccreditation

1990

First class of

BryanLGH students to graduate

2008

First class to

graduate from

36-month Program

3

4

The second Annual Student Lobby Day was held at the Kansas state capitol in Topeka on January 26, 2010 to coincide with the celebration of National Nurse Anesthestist week. The purpose was to promote student awareness and partici-pation in political activities that impact CRNA practice. Eight students and two faculty from the University of Kansas nurse anesthesia program, two students from the Newman University nurse anesthesia program, two students from Texas Wesleyan University nurse anesthesia program and two board members of the Kansas Association of Nurse Anesthetists were in attendance. Led by KU senior students Tara Brunin, SRNA, Christopher Morrisey, SRNA, and Todd Nason, SRNA, students and certified nurse anesthetists met with their state leg-islators to discuss the importance of nurse anesthesia in rural and metropolitan Kansas and to advocate for the profession and protection of practice rights. Preceding their day in Topeka, students were educated on the key legislative

issues facing nurse anesthetists in Kansas and nationwide and given a tutorial on how to contact their representatives and senators. Armed with a myriad of effective lobbying techniques, students met with approximately 15 legislators in individually scheduled ap-pointments throughout the day or while walking them back to their offices and attended a Senate Public Health and Welfare Commit-tee meeting. It was at this meeting that the Chair, Senator Jim Barnett, informed his fellow committee members of the purpose of nurse anesthesia presence at the Capitol that day and displayed a map showing the large distribution of counties in Kansas that rely solely upon CRNA’s for anesthetic care. In addition, Christopher Morrisey was asked to introduce each member of the group and the committee applauded the group’s efforts and honored the goal of political awareness and advocacy by all citizens. The Kansas Asso-ciation of Nurse Anesthetists held a private luncheon where legislators were invited to join in a more informative roundtable discus-sion comprised of students and board members. The day was a great success as evidenced by both the legislators who acknowledged their newfound understanding of the importance of nurse anesthesia practice to the people of Kansas, as well as by students who be-came keenly aware of the value and significance of being an active participant in the political issues facing their profession. Kansas Student Nurse Anesthesia Lobby Day is planned as an annual event and students and CRNA’s are encouraged to attend next year. Copied with the permission of Tara Brunin, SRNA

The First Student Mission Trip

Student Involvement in Legislation

After months of preparation, Program students for the first time partici-pated in a medical mission trip to Antigua, Guatemala. Three nurse anes-thesia students from the University of Kansas joined forces with the Kan-sas City based Medical Mission Foundation to provide medical services to serve the impoverished country of Guatemala. Senior students Michelle Wray, Erin Gibson, and Erica Swingle found the eight day experience invaluable and extremely rewarding. The trip was an absolute success. Throughout the week, a total of 500 patients were seen in the Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT) Clinic, with 160 procedures performed. An additional 150 patients were seen in the audiology clinic with 145 hearing aids fitted successfully. Eighty surgeries were completed in four days utilizing only four operating rooms. The students, under supervision of volunteer anes-thesiologists, were allowed to perform regional and general anesthesia techniques to all ages. The students were given the opportunity to over-

come language barriers, adapt to older anesthetic equipment, appreciate the conservation efforts implemented by the hospital, and learn to love the art of giving back. The patients and their families were nothing but grateful. Many of the men that needed tran-surethral prostatectomies had been forced to have an indwelling catheter for over a year. Many of the children had acute and chronic respiratory tract infections that necessitated removing their tonsils and adenoids. Health problems such as these are detri-mental to life due to the lack of basic health care needs in their communities. The students were humbled by the experience. Re-flecting back, the students discussed the desire to return for another mission trip and support future nurse anesthesia students in pursuing such a noble cause. The trip could not have been made possible without the support of the Medical Mission Foundation, Donna Nyght, the nurse anesthesia department, the volunteer anesthesiologists, and the generous donations from the University of Kansas Medical Center community.


with Janet Pierce, PhD: “Apoptosis: Understanding Programmed Cell Death for the CRNA.”

Timothy Brady, CRNA, MS, Class of 2009, was published in the April 2010 issue of the AANA Journal: “Anesthetic Management of a Pitui-tary Tumor Resection with Dexmede-tomidine.”

Tara Brunin, SRNA, Class of 2011, wrote an article about Lobby Day in Topeka for the Spring 2010 issue of Kanesthesia. Mrs. Brunin was also a guest columnist in the June 2010 issue of the AANA NewsBulletin writing about her participation in the Student

We would like to recognize all the hard work and professional accom-plishments achieved by both students and alumni.

Karri Arndt, CRNA, MS, Class of 1999 and KU Assistant Clinical Pro-fessor, was published in the October 2009 issue of Signa Vitae, coauthored with Anthony Kovac, MD: “Comparison of remifentanil versus fentanyl general anesthesia for short outpatient urologic procedures.”

Paul Bennetts, CRNA, MS, Class of 1989 and KU Assistant Clinical Pro-fessor, was published in the June 2010 issue of the AANA Journal, coauthored

Mentorship Program at the AANA Mid-year Assembly held in Washington, D.C. in April, 2010. Melissa Wiehe, CRNA, MS, Class of 2010, has two publications in the AANA Journal. "Massive Hemoptysis During Monitored Anesthesia Care for Esophagogastroduo-denoscopy with Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy Tube Placement: A Case Re-port" in the February 2010 issue, and “Cystic Fibrosis: A Systems Review” in the June 2010 issue, coauthored with Karri Arndt, CRNA, MS, Class of 1999. Please let us know about your accomplish-ments. Email the department: [email protected]

Faculty In The Spotlight

Recent Publications


Paul Hertel, CRNA, MS Paul Hertel, CRNA, MS, graduated from the University of Kansas Nurse Anesthesia Program in 1999. After working for seven years in the Kansas City area, he returned to the University of Kansas as a Clinical Assistant Professor. In addition to teaching, Paul is also a KANA Board Member (2009-2011). With his political interests in the nurse anesthesia profession, he has been a great faculty role model to help get students involved as well. He helped start stu-dent lobby day in Topeka and has accompanied students to the AANA Mid-Year Assembly in Washington, D.C. He also acts as the chairperson on the capstone advisory committee, which allows him to actively work with the students and express the importance of being active and having a voice within the nurse anesthesia profession. Paul is “excited about the future of the program and it’s positive involvement in legislative issues and helping students see a different side of nurse anesthesia.”

Carol Goodyear-Bruch, CCRN, PhD Carol Goodyear-Bruch, CCRN, PhD, has vast experience in the critical care nursing profession serving as an educator, clinical nurse specialist, and faculty. Board-certified in critical care since 1983, she has worked in a variety of critical care settings including surgical/trauma, medical, burns, and emergency department. Dr. Goodyear-Bruch is active in the American Association of Critical Care Nurses both on the local and national level. In addition to serving on the board of the local chapter since 1989, Dr. Goodyear-Bruch was president in 2000-2001. At the national level, she served as the President of the Board of Directors of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) from 2008- 2009, and has previously served as chair of the AACN's Education Task Force. Dr. Goodyear-Bruch was part of the program faculty, as clinical associate professor and Director of Research, from June 2001 - April 2010. She is now Senior Nurse Researcher at Children’s Mercy Hospital, Kansas City. She will be receiving the DISTINGUISHED NURSING ALUMNI award from the School of Nursing at the KUMC Alumni Reunion Gala on October 9, 2010. We would like to congratulate her on all her ac-complishments and say thank you for your commitment to teaching and excellence.

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KU NURSE ANESTHESIA 4TH ANNUAL

Alumni Tailgate on the Hill

September 11, 2010

Please join us on Saturday, September 11, 2010 at 9:00 a.m. on the Lawrence campus for the Fourth Annual KU Nurse Anesthesia Alumni Tailgate during the KU vs Georgia Tech football game.

Our tent will be located on the hill which is on the south side of the stadium. Food and drinks will be provided. Tickets to the game are available online through the KU Athletics office.

kutickets.com/football

Welcome to the Class of 2013!! June 2nd, 2010 marked the first day of the Pro-gram for the Class of 2013 . This is the 43rd class of students in the University of Kansas Nurse Anesthesia Program.

The annual welcoming picnic for the new class was a huge success! Students, along with their families, were able to meet with current students and faculty to get better acquainted.

EVENTS

KU Nurse Anesthesia Education Mail Stop 2020 3901 Rainbow Bloulevard Kansas City, KS 66160

Visit us at www.na.kumc.edu/alumni

OR Find us on Facebook


Support the Nurse Anesthesia Program. Give online today at www.na.kumc.edu/alumni

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director’s message · the second annual student lobby day was held at the kansas state capitol in...

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