Welcome to the University of Iowa Doctor of Nursing Practice Anesthesia program. My name is Cormac O’Sullivan and along with Drs. Heather Bair, Kathy Fear, and Emily Ford, we run the program. In 2010, we became one of the first DNP accredited anesthesia programs in the country.  

Our program blends superb academics with first-rate clinical experiences to produce exceptional CRNAs. Each year we accept 16 ICU nurses into our 36-month DNP program. Our class size is small so we can pay attention to every aspect for every student throughout the entire program. 

The first year of this program is all-academic. During the two years of clinical experience our students complete about 1,300 mentored anesthetics throughout the state of Iowa under the guidance of expert CRNAs. Much of your experience comes right here at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, a highly rated Academic Medical Center; however, we also offer seven months of advanced rotations, including four months of practice in rural, critical access, CRNA only clinical sites.

University of Iowa anesthesia students exceed the NBCRNA certification case requirements in every category and we have a 100% pass rate on the boards exam, a 100% employment rate within three months of graduation, and less than a 2% (1/53) attrition rate since inception of our DNP curriculum in 2010. If you want to be one of the most remarkable CRNAs in the country, you need to be an Iowa SRNA, and we’d love to talk with you!

I look forward to connecting with you very soon. 

Go Hawks!

Cormac O'Sullivan, PhD, CRNA, ARNP
Director, Anesthesia Nursing