This fall, for the first time, there is a program in Northwest Arkansas that will produce certified registered nurse anesthetists, or CRNAs.
Tina Maddox, associate provost for University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Northwest Regional Campus, says CRNAs are nurses with a higher level of training who can provide anesthesia care for patients.
“The reason that they’re an important component of the health care system is they can really help provide an essential gap in care," Maddox said. "It’s a cost-effective way to really provide high-quality anesthesia care. And these individuals are great resources, especially for serving rural communities. They are critical for critical access facilities and also surgical centers.”
The need for CRNAs in Northwest Arkansas is anticipated to grow for three reasons: people keep moving here, a lot of us are staying as we age, and there is an increasing need for health care procedures.
While the need is rising, the number of CRNAs in the state is declining. According to UAMS information, the number of CRNAs in Arkansas peaked in 2013, with about 500 in the state. By 2015, there were slightly fewer than 300 CRNAs.
The new program in Northwest Arkansas will complement the UAMS CRNA program that already exists on the Little Rock campus. But associate provost Maddox said that Central Arkansas program alone won’t be able to bridge the gap.
“Currently, UAMS’s program graduates 16 CRNAs each year, and they have many more qualified applicants than that. One of the things with this new expansion is to increase the numbers of CRNAs that UAMS is training, up to a total of 18 additional CRNAs over five years.”
To become certified, students will complete a 36-month course. To get the program at the UAMS Northwest campus functional, UAMS expanded faculty and expanded clinical training partnerships throughout the region.
“We’ve had partnerships and facilities that are happy to work with us because they need these health care professionals in their facilities," Maddox. "So it’s been a great collaboration.”
The final semesters of the program will allow students to be at clinical facilities throughout northwest Arkansas. Investment in the expansion includes $2 million from the Alice L. Walton Foundation and contributions of $500,000 each from Mercy and Washington Regional. The confirmed need to bolster the number of CRNAs in the region and state came from a 2024 report published by the Arkansas Center for Nursing.
This new program will also provide opportunities for more potential students in Northwest Arkansas who previously had limited clinical opportunities close to where they live.
Maddox said the expansion of the UAMS CRNA program is a strategic investment in the region’s health care future.
“By increasing the number of trained CRNAs, this will really help address our critical workforce shortage. It will improve health care access. As I mentioned earlier, it’s a cost-effective way and a quality way to deliver these services for patients not only in northwest Arkansas, but really across the region.”
A press release relating to the expansion of the program quotes Washington Regional President and CEO Larry Shackelford as saying the collaboration to create the program in Northwest Arkansas is a step toward building a more resilient health care workforce here.
And Maddox said the program also helps fulfill the school’s mission.
“It’s really to train health care providers to meet the needs of the entire state and beyond. All of our programs look strategically at where the needs are in the state. We have CRNAs already training in Little Rock. And this part of the state has been identified, obviously as a place where CRNAs are in need or in demand. So we’ve strategically made the decision to expand the program in this part of the state with hopes that we can train some individuals who will want to stay here and work here in the region. We certainly recruit students from all over. But our emphasis here is really on trying to find some folks who would train here in the facilities here and want to stay here to serve the northwest population.”
The first cohort is beginning the program this fall, and more information about the specifics of the program can be found here.
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