Technical Standards

Technical Standards for Students in the Nurse Anesthesia Specialty[O1]

The stated mission of the nurse anesthesia program at the University of Minnesota is to educate registered nurses to become Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists with the highest degree of professional competency. Potential nurse anesthetists are expected to complete all the academic and clinical requirements of an accredited nurse anesthesia program before they are eligible to take the national exam for certification as a nurse anesthetist. The technical standards delineate the cognitive, affective and psychomotor skills deemed essential to the completion of this program and to perform as a competent certified registered nurse anesthetist. If a student cannot demonstrate the following skills and abilities due to a documented disability, it is the responsibility of the student to request an appropriate accommodation. The Disability Resource Center (DRC) is provided by the University of Minnesota to assist students and departments in determining reasonable accommodation. For further information, visit

https://diversity.umn.edu/disability/

Technical Standards, Performance Requirements and Disability Accommodations

The University of Minnesota School of Nursing is committed to the policy that all persons shall have equal access to its programs, facilities and employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, age, marital status, disability, public assistance status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.

In adhering to this policy, the University abides by the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Minnesota Human Rights Act and other applicable statutes and regulations relating to equality of opportunity. The School of Nursing encourages all qualified individuals to apply for admission to the nurse anesthesia specialty of the Doctor of Nursing Practice program.

The School of Nursing Nurse Anesthesia curriculum requires students to engage in diverse, complex and specific experiences essential to the acquisition and practice of required nurse anesthesia skills and functions. Unique combinations of cognitive, affective, psychomotor, physical, and social abilities are required to satisfactorily perform these functions. In addition to being essential to the successful completion of the requirements of the DNP degree, these functions are necessary to ensure the health and safety of patients, self, fellow students, faculty and other healthcare providers.

The technical standards necessary to acquire or demonstrate competence in an advanced nursing practice specialty area as complex as nurse anesthesia and needed for successful admission and continuance by candidates for the DNP Nurse Anesthesia specialty at the University of Minnesota School of Nursing are listed below. Successful candidates must meet the technical standards necessary to acquire or demonstrate competencies (cognitive, psychomotor, affective) outlined in this document with or without reasonable accommodation.

Cognitive Learning Skills

The student must demonstrate the ability to:

1. Assimilate and learn large volumes of complex, technically detailed information to perform clinical problem solving.

2. Synthesize and apply concepts and information from different health professional disciplines in formulating diagnostic and therapeutic judgments.

3. Demonstrate learning through the use of written papers, computerized and paper testing materials and documents.

4. Learn and perform common diagnostic procedures, e.g., laboratory, cardiographic, radiologic, and to interpret the results, recognizing deviations from the norm and identifying pathophysiologic processes.

5. Perform physical assessments of the surgical patient during all peri-operative phases and make sound, timely, evidence-based decisions regarding appropriate courses of action/treatment.

6. Troubleshoot mechanical problems with complex patient monitors, anesthesia machines and adjunct equipment.

7. Apply critical thinking and problem solving methods that results in independent decision making skills.

8. Differentiate and prioritize among multiple, simultaneous problems occurring in one patient within the dynamic context of a surgical, obstetric, medical therapeutic, or interventional radiology procedure.

9. Record examination and diagnostic results clearly, accurately, and efficiently and to communicate them effectively to the patient and colleagues in English.

10. Apply quantitative methods of measurement, including calculation, analysis, reasoning and synthesis.

11. Comprehend three dimensional relationships and to understand the spatial relationship of structures.

Psychomotor Skills

The student must demonstrate the ability to:

1. Sit and stand for prolonged periods of time.

2. Locomotion: Ability:

• 1. Get to lecture, lab and clinical locations, and move within rooms as needed for changing groups, partners and work stations, and perform assigned clinical tasks;

  2. Physically maneuver in required clinical settings, to accomplish assigned tasks.

  3. Rapidly get to locations within hospitals that may have limited access and space (e.g., responding to calls for emergency airway management during cardiac arrest situations, or emergency surgery to save life or limb)

3. Manual tasks:

• 1. Maneuver or move an individual's body parts or clinical equipment from side to side, forward and backward, or from a lower to higher position.

  2. Maintain an object in a constant position for an extended period.

  3. Connect a variety of types of tubing via adapters, sometimes in complex configurations.

  4. Competently perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and all ACLS protocols using guidelines issued by the American Heart Association or the American Red Cross.

  5. Pushing/pulling ability to exert force against a small or large object to move it closer or further away.

4. Reaching:

• 1. Ability to extend arm(s) over and under individuals and equipment as required by each clinical setting.

5. Small motor/hand skills:

• 1. Legibly record/document evaluations, patient care notes, referrals, etc. in standard medical charts in hospital/clinical settings in a timely manner and consistent with the acceptable norms of clinical settings.

  2. Legibly record thoughts for written assignments and tests.

  3. Document communications in written form in charts, compose reports and correspondence.

  4. Word process entries into an electronic medical record.

  5. Apply a firm grasp, as well as a flexible grasp (e.g., threading catheters over guidewires, endotracheal tubes over stylets or tube exchangers)

  6. Operate a push-button telephone and a computer keyboard (for automated record keeping, and retrieval of patient information from a computer terminal)

  7. Perform precision movements, i.e., venipuncture, arterial puncture, peripheral and central intravenous line placement, IV regulation, use of an array of airway management equipment, fiberoptic intubating scope, administration of subarachnoid blocks, epidural catheters, peripheral nerve blocks).

  8. Elicit data from patients via palpation, auscultation, and percussion.

  9. Manipulate a blood pressure cuff, stethoscope, insert NG tubes; perform injections and adjust IV drips or other equipment as required.

6. Visual acuity:

• 1. Legibly record/document evaluations, anesthesia care notes in standard anesthesia records in hospital settings in a timely manner and consistent with the acceptable norms of clinical settings.

  2. Perform the precision movements delineated in number 5.g above (?).

  3. Identify tiny markings and inscriptions (i.e., on syringes, thermometers, IV bags, etc.).

  4. Identify color changes and coding systems.

  5. Identify waveforms and digital readouts from monitors

7. Hearing or ability to receive and:

• 1. Effectively respond to verbal requests from patients and team members, especially in noisy operating rooms

  2. Interpret the language used to communicate lectures, instructions, concepts, narratives, questions and answers.

  3. Auscultate and percuss for internal body sounds, e.g., heart, bowel, lungs.

  4. Respond in a timely manner to a variety of machine alarms, and changes in sounds from monitoring equipment (e.g. esophageal/precordial stethoscope, pulse oximeter)

8. Communication ability:

• 1. Effectively and sensitively communicate with team members in English in both verbal and written formats and in an effective, efficient and appropriate manner.

  2. Effectively and sensitively communicate with and observe patients in order to elicit information, perceive non-verbal communication, and describe changes in mood, activity, posture, color, and physical presence.

  3. Communicate on the spot to other students, teachers, patients, peers, other staff and personnel to ask questions, and explain conditions and procedures succinctly.

9. Self Care ability:

• 1. Maintain general good health and self-care in order not to jeopardize the health and safety of self and individuals with whom one interacts in the academic and clinical settings.

  2. Arrange transportation and living accommodations for/during off-campus clinical assignments to foster timely reporting to the classroom and clinical center.

Affective Learning Skills

The student must be able to:

1. Maintain composure and emotional stability during periods of high acute stress as well as periods of chronic stress.

2. Possess and maintain the emotional health required for the full utilization of his/her intellectual abilities, the exercise of good judgment, the prompt completion of all responsibilities attendant to the diagnosis and care of patients, and the development of mature, sensitive and effective relationships with patients.

3. Tolerate physically and intellectually demanding workloads (averaging 60 hours/week).

4. Adapt to constantly and rapidly changing environments, display flexibility, and learn to function in the face of uncertainty or ambiguity.

5. Experience empathy for the situations of others and effectively communicate that empathy.

6. Reflect on his/her own behaviors when it interferes with effective interpersonal or team relationships.