USC Medical Center's
Nurse Anesthetist Program

The complexity and diversity of available clinical services is one of USC Medical Center’s most compelling recruiting advantages.

USC Medical Center
University of Southern California (USC)
Program of Nurse Anesthesia
Department of Anesthesiology
Keck School of Medicine
1540 Alcazar Street
CHP #223
Los Angeles, CA 90089

Contact Information
Michele E Gold, CRNA, PhD, Program Director
Philip Lumb, MB, BS, FCCM, Chair, Professor
ph: (323) 442-2037
fax: (323) 442-1701
email: uscnap@usc.edu

Quick Facts

CRNA Degree offered
Master of Science in Nurse Anesthesia is currently offered. A proposed DNAP program will be offered in August, 2014. The program will be structured for professional CRNAs, will take approximately two years to complete, and will be on-line.

Program Length
24 months, full time

Credit Hours
45 semester units

Starting Month
August

Application Deadline
January 15th

Entire Program Cost of CRNA School at USC Medical Center.
Tuition is calculated at the 2012-2013 rate. Tuition at most schools increases each academic year. Over the duration of the program, expect to pay a tuition that is 5% to 15% higher than what is shown here.

Cost of Tuition: $66,285
Fees and expenses: $6,000
Grand Total: $72,285

Tuition Calculation: $1,473 per unit * 45 units = $66,285. Fees = $500 per semester * 6 semesters = $3,000 + $3,000 for textbooks.

Class Size
16 students

Number of Applicants
Approximately 80 applicants; 50 are interviewed.

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CRNA Training

Consistent with most nurse anesthetist programs, Keck School of Medicine is primarily front loaded, with the majority of your core classes offered the first 2 semesters. An advantage of this program is that you’ll begin your clinical experience during your second semester, allowing you to put your knowledge into proper context.

As part of Keck’s CRNA Program, your clinical experience will provide you with everything you need to be a successful CRNA. Their Anesthesiology Department supports the busiest penetrating trauma service in the United States, and the clinical activities of the USC University Hospital receive Medicare’s highest clinical severity index of all academic centers in the state.

The complexity and diversity of available clinical services provides the Department with one of its most compelling recruiting advantages.

As a student in USC Medical Center’s CRNA Program, you will gain experience in a variety of clinical specialty areas including:

cardiothoracic
neurosurgical
genitourinary
gynecologic
head and neck
plastic
orthopedic
trauma
obstetric
pediatric
outpatient procedures

Students will have at their disposal the most sophisticated anesthesia equipment, including the use of the patient simulation center.

Under the guidance of expert CRNA and physician faculty, resident nurse anesthetists are responsible for the administration and management of:

general anesthesia
regional anesthetic techniques
modalities of invasive monitoring
acute and chronic pain management

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Program Requirements

BSN:
Baccalaureate degree is required. It does not have to be a BSN (though most applicants will have a BSN)

RN:
current RN licensure

Critical Care:
1 year of critical care experience as an RN (Average clinical experience of accepted students is 3.8 years.)

Acceptable critical care experience includes:

Surgical ICU
Medical ICU
Neurosurgical ICU
Trauma ICU
Pediatric/Neonatal ICU

Will be determined on an individual basis:

PACU
ER

GPA:
Minimum of 3.0 (Average Cumulative GPA of accepted students is 3.84)

Minimum GRE scores:
Minimum combined score of 1000 is required on the verbal and quantitative sections of the GRE general test.

Certifications:

BCLS (Basic Cardiac Life Support)
ACLS (Advanced Cardiac Life Support)
PALS (Pediatric Advanced Life Support)

Conversational Spanish is strongly recommended

CRNA Educational Requirements - satisfactory completion of the following college classes:

Combination of inorganic, organic and biochemistry (lab not required). Classes can be combined - all content must be covered. One semester of each (individual or combined) is acceptable.
Statistics OR Nursing Research (one semester)
Anatomy (one semester)
Physiology (one semester)
Biology (one semester)
Intro to Physics (lab not required; one semester)
English comprehension (one semester)
Health Assessment (one semester)

USC Medical Center’s CRNA program website

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CRNA School Performance

CRNA School Rankings - U.S. News & World Report (2011)
2.8 out of 5.0. Ranked 41 out of 107 CRNA programs.

*Please note: CRNA rankings are somewhat bias and subjective. Read disclaimer about how CRNA rankings are created.*

Accredited CRNA Programs are reviewed regularly.
USC Medical Center Nurse Anesthetist Program was last reviewed 05/2009. It was given 10 years accreditation and will be reviewed again 05/2019. This shows that the program is very stable.

Pass Rate for CRNA Boards at USC Medical Center

First-time test takers: 94%
National average (2008): 89.9%

Attrition Rate
Five year average: 7%.

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CRNA Salaries

An average nurse anesthetist salary in California
California CRNA salaries are among the highest in the U.S., largely because of the higher cost of living. Most jobs range from $150k-$200k per year.

An average annual nurse anesthetist salary in the US is $163,467 (according to a 2008 study)