The Diversity in Nurse Anesthesia Mentorship Program (DNAMP) provides a sense of belonging and inspiration for current and prospective nurse anesthesia students.
Nearly 200 individuals gathered at Rosalind Franklin University during a weekend in August 2024 for the Diversity CRNA Information Session and Skills Lab, an immersive three-day experience designed for critical care nurses of color interested in becoming certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs). Attendees traveled from across the country to network with current nurse anesthesia students, practicing CRNAs and program directors from four nurse anesthesia programs — including RFU. They shared insights on the expectations of a CRNA education and preparing for the admissions process.
The weekend also included a full day of skills labs hosted in RFU’s College of Nursing. Faculty and student volunteers guided attendees through a wide range of simulation activities that provided hands-on experience in skills essential to CRNA practice, including optic intubation, pre-op evaluation, airway ultrasound examination, spinal and epidural procedures, arterial IV line placement, and using anesthesia machines.
This was the second year in a row that RFU hosted the Diversity CRNA weekend event. Collaborations with partners such as the Diversity in Nurse Anesthesia Mentorship Program (DNAMP) are essential for expanding access and increasing awareness about CRNA careers for nurses from underrepresented populations. Nurses of color currently compose only 12% of the U.S. CRNA workforce. Events such as Diversity CRNA are helping pave the way for aspiring CRNAs, bringing more diverse nurse anesthetists into the profession.
CRNA Professionals Model Success
Pursuing a career as a CRNA involves consideration of many factors beyond the job itself. What are nurse anesthesia programs looking for in prospective students? Where will I complete my clinical training? How do I balance the rigors of a doctoral program with family and other commitments? Diversity CRNA weekend aims to answer these questions and many more by gathering those best positioned to provide the answers — diverse CRNA leaders, practitioners and students who have traveled the path prospective nurse anesthesia students hope to follow. The hard-won knowledge and experiences shared throughout the weekend are invaluable to helping place interested students in the best possible position to succeed in their own journeys.
Imparting words of wisdom and personal experiences during the daylong information session were DNAMP founder and CEO Wallena Gould, EdD, CRNA, FAANA, FADLN, FAAN; DNAMP board president Mark Giles, DNP, CRNA; and keynote speaker Christian Tekwe, PhD, CRNA, president of the Association of Cameroonian Nurse Anesthetists in America, who shared inspirational stories of Cameroonian CRNAs across the country and globally striving for health equity.
Attendees also heard from RFU alumnus Carlos Xavier Moreno, DrAP, CRNA, NSPM-C, who grew up in Puerto Rico and served in the U.S. Navy before embarking on his highly successful nursing career as an advanced pain management fellow and inventor of a patented medical device that assists with determining insertion depth of catheters. Dr. Moreno, who is one of only five Hispanic CRNAs certified as advanced pain management fellows in the United States, discussed pain disparities and the importance of having advanced pain management fellows of color on healthcare teams.
According to DNAMP founder Dr. Gould, by December 2024, more than 920 nurses of color who have engaged with her organization will have been accepted, matriculated and graduated from U.S. nurse anesthesia programs since 2003. That is the year Dr. Gould, then a nurse anesthesia student herself, noted the lack of diversity in her program and began advocating for more representation in her profession.
Sara Skoog is a staff writer with the RFU Division of Marketing and Brand Management. In addition to writing for Helix and other university publications, she also produces Pulse, RFU’s monthly e-newsletter.