On Dec. 8, the Mercer University School of Medicine and the Medical Center of Central Georgia (MCCG) in Macon graduated its first class of nurse anesthetists. Mercer and MCCG developed the program in 2005 to address the severe shortage of certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs) in the United States.

There are only two nurse anesthetist programs in the state; the other is at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta.

Special (ENLARGE)

The first graduates of the Medical Center of Central Georgia's nurse anesthetist program are (from left) Jennifer Avant, Jeff Cryder, Joannie Greene, Mandy Jones, Bryan Justice, Christy Madden, Lisa Wallace and Adam Nauss.

"We were able to take eight students in the first class, and all eight made it through and already have job offers," said Eric Herrold, CRNA, MNA, interim director of the program. "With their skills, they can literally go anywhere in the country, but the Medical Center [of Central Georgia] has offered them all positions here."

"The Medical Center is kind of like home, but I'm glad to get out of the basement and take my name off the student locker, and to get to spend more time with my daughter, Lanier," said Bryan Justice, RRT, BSN, MSA. "Becoming a nurse anesthetist is a big step up for me. I'll have a lot more autonomy and responsibility. There will be a lot more stress, but with that comes more financial incentives. It's a very demanding and rewarding job."

Nurse anesthetists earn anywhere from $100,000 to $200,000 a year, depending their experience and where they work.

CRNAs provide anesthesia to patients in collaboration with surgeons, anesthesiologists, dentists, podiatrists and other health care professionals.

Justice worked as a registered respiratory therapist for eight years before deciding to make a change. He returned to school to earn his bachelor's degree in nursing and worked for a year in MCCG's cardiovascular intensive care unit so he could meet the application requirements for the highly competitive nurse anesthetist program. More than 100 candidates applied for the eight positions in the first class.

"I was determined to get in, and that's what this program takes — determination. It's challenging academically, physically and emotionally," Justice said.

Students take much of the same curriculum as medical students, only compressed into a much shorter time frame, according to Herrold.

"They study more than they sleep, and most graduate with over 1,200 clinical hours of working in the operating room," he said.

Justice said that he spent most of the first year of didactic studies in MCCG's basement classroom — studying or going to class — from 8 a.m. until about 11 p.m.

"I knew from talking to other nurse anesthetists that it was going to be a hard program, going in," said recent graduate Jennifer Avant, BSN. "It's like a full-time job. If you're doing clinicals, you're studying.

"It takes a lot of drive and your family has to expect not to see you for 28 months. Even over Christmas, after I'd graduated, I was studying all the time for the boards."

The support of Avant's husband and daughters (age 15 and 11) helped her get through the program.

A nurse since 1990, Avant had always wanted to become a nurse anesthetist, but didn't want to move her family from Macon to Augusta, which had Georgia's only program until 2005.

"When Mercer and MCCG opened the school in Macon, and I applied and got in, I figured it was meant to be," Avant said.

"I enjoyed working in an intensive care unit and in the operating room, and I thought that this field would give me the best of both worlds," she said. "School just confirmed my decision that this is a good fit. I like taking care of only one patient at a time and I enjoy watching the surgery. It's exciting."

With that excitement come accountability and commitment. "Putting people to sleep is a lot of responsibility, so make sure that you really want to do it before applying to a program," she added.

Herrold is especially proud of the school's first graduating class. "They had it the hardest, going through a new program while we were still working out the kinks," he said.

The school is now accepting 12 students a year and eventually hopes to increase the number of slots to 15.

"Our long-term goal is to have more CRNAs, who could be the sole anesthesia providers in rural areas. That would be a great blessing to Georgia," Herrold said.