Advanced Pain Management Fellowship Offered to Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists

Certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs) in the hunt for an advanced pain management fellowship that can help them acquire the skills necessary to treat chronic have a new option available to them.

The Advanced Pain Management Certificate Program, a partnership between the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA), Park Ridge, III., and Hamline University School of Education in St. Paul, Minnesota, is accredited by the Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs. Graduates are eligible to take a certification exam on non-surgical pain management offered by the National Board of Certification and Recertification for Nurse Anesthetists. The program has recently graduated its third class of 9 CRNA fellows.

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CRNAs have excelled at managing acute pain since the beginning of the profession, so for those who want to learn to provide care for different types of pain, this program is a logical next step. 

“The AANA-Hamline fellowship program is a natural progression of CRNAs learning to provide holistic care for chronic pain patients,” said AANA Senior Director of Education and Professional Development Bruce Schoneboom, CRNA, PhD, FAAN, in a statement.

The post-graduate fellowship program lasts just over a year and covers the following topics:

• Theoretical foundations of pain
• Imaging and radiation safety
• Assessment, diagnosis, and referral
• Pharmacology
• Interventional pain practice
• Spiritual aspects of health and illness
• Non-allopathic aspects related to pain

The program combines online classes with hands-on clinical work guided by experienced pain practitioners. It includes 19 academic (didactic) credits and 240 mandatory clinic hours across 4 semesters.

CRNAs come from all across the United States to participate in the program, and take their new knowledge and skills back to their practices once they graduate. The CRNAs who have graduated from the program primarily practice in underserved locations, including rural areas.

Visit the Hamline University page about the Advanced Pain Management Certificate for more information.