St. Elizabeth Health Center School for Nurse Anesthetists, Inc. is an alliance of anesthesia practitioners who strive to motivate and empower students through education, mentoring, and collaboration. The School community develops in students a sense of self-worth and future opportunity that compels them to make a positive impact on our society.

The School shares common goals with Mercy Health and Youngstown State University by striving to promote an environment that encourages academic excellence and quality of service for all members of our community. The core values of reverence, commitment, justice, stewardship, and integrity are enhanced by this alignment between the facilities.  The combined philosophies have enriched the holistic practice of Nurse Anesthesia.

The Department of Nursing supports the mission of Youngstown State University and the Bitonte College of Health and Human Services.  The Department of Nursing provides high quality baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs that are responsive to the health care needs of society.  The Department of Nursing values high standards of professional ethics, cultural, racial, ethnic diversity, and student-faculty relations that foster excellence in teaching, learning, scholarship, and public service.

The purpose of the graduate program is to prepare nurses at the doctoral level for advanced practice nursing.  The program provides a strong graduate nursing education that builds on baccalaureate nursing foundation. The core curriculum centers on professional nursing issues, nursing science, and research methods for building nursing knowledge.  The program prepares nurses to implement essential characteristics and core competencies for nursing practice in the selected specialty areas.

St Elizabeth Health Center School for Nurse Anesthetists, Inc. educates experienced Registered Nurses with a strong clinical background in critical care to become Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNA). They will learn to safely administer anesthesia to patients across the life span in a variety of settings and under all circumstances. Program graduates will have the Doctor of Nursing Practice degree conferred upon them through our academic affiliate Youngstown State University and a certificate of anesthesia from St Elizabeth Health Center School for Nurse Anesthetists, Inc.

The scope of practice includes preoperative assessment, intraoperative administration and maintenance of anesthesia, post-operative management of surgical & obstetrical patients and individuals requiring anesthesia for diagnostic and therapeutic non-surgical procedures.

The human being and environment form an integrated system.  The environment, which influences human function, consists of internal and external components that affect individuals, families, communities, and physical surrounding.  Human beings can creatively change components of the environment that may increase their ability to achieve a desired level of human functioning.

The individual and society share the responsibility for one’s health.  Health is a state of wholeness or integrity of individuals. It is a result of an individual’s unique cultural, biological, psychosocial, spiritual and environmental elements that exist on a continuum across the life span.  Health demands are met by assisting individuals to participate in activities necessary to meet optimal health outcomes.

Nursing is an evolving science that synthesizes concepts and theories through research and critical inquiry to develop an understanding of human responses to health needs.  The Nursing process is the basis of professional practice. Nursing assumes leadership roles in healthcare, legislation and public service to identify and implement changes in the delivery of healthcare.

Learning in the graduate nursing education program is a continuous process involving cognitive, affective, and psychomotor skills.  Personal growth and self-discovery in the learning process are enhanced in an environment that encourages collegial relationships that stimulate a curious examination of the world.  The results of the educational experience are the development of critical thought, analytic inquiry, creativity, and professional judgement that prepares the student for the future challenges in nursing practice.

Faculty serve as motivators and facilitators of learning.  Faculty seek to inspire an appreciation and desire in each student for new knowledge and life-long learning.  Graduates of our program will be an integral part of the continued development of our profession. The graduates will participate in endeavors to discover new knowledge and methods to meet the health needs of all individuals.  It is the belief of the faculty that in order for students to be able to provide the safest anesthesia to a patient, we must remain current with the trends in anesthesia education and practice.