Assistant Director of the Nurse Anesthesia Program

Vanderbilt University: School of Nursing

Location

Nashville

Open Date

Jan 24, 2025

Description

The Vanderbilt University School of Nursing (VUSN) seeks qualified applicants to serve as the inaugural Assistant Director of the Nurse Anesthesia Specialty in the DNP program. This position, reporting to the Director of the Nurse Anesthesia Program, will serve as a full-time, non-tenured faculty at the assistant, associate, or professor rank with a joint appointment with the Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC).

The Nurse Anesthesia Assistant Director role is multifaceted, requiring a combination of entrepreneurial, leadership, and scholarship activities. Nurse anesthesia assistant program administrators are required by the Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Programs (COA) to be certified registered nurse anesthetists. They assume shared responsibility for keeping their programs compliant with COA specialty accreditation standards. The Assistant Director is administratively responsible for assisting with the organization, direction, and leadership of the nurse anesthesia education specialty. The Assistant Director represents nurse anesthesia in school governance and serves as a point of contact for internal and external stakeholders regarding nurse anesthesia education. The Assistant Director coordinates and works with the Director of the Nurse Anesthesia Program, VUSN staff, and other faculty to accomplish the needs of the specialty and meet the mission of VUSN.

Responsibilities of the Assistant Director also include demonstrated excellence in teaching, service, and scholarship. The Assistant Director of the nurse anesthesia educational specialty at VUSN assists with the daily operations of the DNP Nurse Anesthesia Program, teaches in the nurse anesthesia program, assists with program and curriculum development, advises students, supports the program director in managing the program’s operations by leading curriculum review and revision, overseeing student recruitment, enrollment, matriculation, advising, performance, graduation, and student clinical placement.

The Assistant Director supports accreditation activities by coordinating an ongoing review process to assess program outcomes and program evaluations to drive continued strategic decisions, curricular revisions, and programmatic enhancements. The Assistant Director serves as a role model for professional excellence and functions as the liaison between students, faculty, staff, and clinical affiliate educational sites.

Providing mentorship and professional development opportunities for faculty to promote a collaborative and future-focused supportive educational environment are duties of the Assistant Director.

Maintenance of clinical competence is achieved by actively engaging in clinical practice as a part of the joint appointment with VUMC to ensure that both faculty and leadership continue to demonstrate proficiency in nurse anesthesia practice while staying current with industry standards and best practice.

Full-time faculty must be willing to relocate to the area for regular, on-campus engagement in VUSN activities. Salary and rank commensurate with experience.

Qualifications

Education and Certifications
• Doctoral degree in nursing, nurse anesthesia, or related field
• A current unencumbered license to practice as a registered professional nurse (RN) and/or Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) in Tennessee
• Certification as a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) by the National Board for Certification and Recertification of Nurse Anesthetists (NBCRNA)

Experience And Skills
• Four or more years of clinical experience in the Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) role
• Demonstrated record of professional and clinical experience, instruction, curriculum development, and evaluation
• Knowledge of current CRNA practice and professional issues
• Experience with institutional and programmatic accreditation requirements for nurse anesthesia education
• Demonstrated experience working in and fostering a diverse faculty, staff, and student environment
• Excellence in oral and written communication
• Prior classroom teaching experience
• Expertise in simulation preferred

Application Instructions

Applicants for the faculty position should submit a recent copy of their CV and a cover letter summarizing relevant qualifications for the position. For questions about the posting, please email Read more