MISSION
The mission of the Department of Nurse Anesthesia is to produce anesthesia providers that are the benchmark for safe, competent and evidence-based anesthesia practice. Nurturing and developing innovative, creative leaders for the advancement of the profession, trained to their full scope of practice.
VISION
The vision of the program is to produce graduates that are recognized as national leaders, assuring quality through safe anesthesia care.
PHILOSOPHY
The DNAP program is a practice doctorate degree and is designed for the registered nurse who wishes to assume a leadership role within the profession of nurse anesthesia. In addition to preparing students to be competent, skilled nurse anesthesia practitioners, it is the mission of the program to nurture and develop innovative, creative leaders for the advancement of the profession. Both Gonzaga University and Sacred Heart Medical Center support the philosophy of providing exemplary care and education for all persons.
As faculty and affiliates of the School of Health Sciences at Gonzaga University, we commit ourselves to facilitate the development of professional nurse anesthetists through the integration of knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for professional leadership in a global society. We further commit ourselves, in the tradition of Catholic and Jesuit education, to foster leadership and ethical behavior by stimulating intellectual vitality, advocating for justice, promoting a spirit of service, and developing life-long learning communities within the profession.
The DNAP program believes that the quality of patient care provided by the nurse anesthetist is directly related to the quality of the profession of nurse anesthesia as a whole. The variability of nurse anesthesia practice mandates that the DNAP program will graduate skilled practitioners capable of providing general and regional anesthesia for all ages of patients and categories of procedures. It is the goal of the DNAP program to graduate practitioners who can function in any anesthetizing area, from anesthesia care team member to the independent delivery of anesthesia. The practitioners will be cognizant of their professional strengths and weaknesses and will practice in collaboration with qualified and legally authorized professional health care providers.