What type of nursing experience is required for admission to the master of science in nurse anesthesia program?
To be eligible, a candidate must have a mimimum of one year as a Registered Nurse in a critical care setting when he/she applies to the program. This includes areas such as Medical Intensive Care, Surgical Intensive Care, Acute Coronary Care, or Neonatal Intensive Care; unit designations vary among hospitals. Students are required to have current ACLS and PALS certification.

Is there financial aid available, and what is the cost of the program?
For graduate education, aid is usually limited to guaranteed student loans and arrangements with prospective employers (including branches of the military). Currently, the academic charges include tuition and fees as follows:

• In-state tuition = $3877/semester
• Out-of-state tuition* = $8111/semester (*may be eligible for in-state after 1 year)
• Program fees = $1000/semester
• Required textbooks ~ $1000      

Do your students compete with anesthesia residents?
We only share one of our rotations with the MUSC residents, namely the Medical University of South Carolina's Medical Center. Our students gain the majority of their experience at other sites in Charleston such as Rutledge Tower, Charleston Veterans Administration Medical Center, Charleston Naval Hospital, Trident Medical Center and Summerville Medical Center. We also utilize out-of-town rotations including McLeod Regional Medical Center (Florence), Greenville Hospital Systems and St. Francis Hospital (Greenville).

 Are students allowed to perform their own regional anesthesia?
Yes. In addition to very comprehensive didactic training that includes a human cadaver lab, our students gain hands-on regional experience at most of our clinical sites. At the Naval Hospital and VA Medical Center, a large percentage of the surgical cases are done with regional anesthetic techniques performed by our students.

How do your graduates perform on boards?
MUSC graduates have achieved a pass rate on the certification exam above the national average for the past ten years, including 100% pass rate for eight of those years. Our class average is typically 20 to 30 points above the national mean, with at least one or two students achieving the highest possible score on an annual basis.