The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) announced a collaboration with the Alice L. Walton Foundation, Heartland Whole Health Institute, Mercy and Washington Regional Medical Center to expand its existing Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) program to the UAMS Northwest Regional Campus in Fayetteville starting fall 2025.
This will be the first CRNA program in Northwest Arkansas.
CRNAs provide cost-effective, high-quality anesthesia care, often serving as providers in rural hospitals, critical access facilities and surgical centers. The demand for CRNAs in Northwest Arkansas is projected to grow significantly over the next decade due to population growth, aging demographics and increasing health care needs.
The investment in the expansion is composed of $2 million from the Alice L. Walton Foundation and $500,000 each from Mercy and Washington Regional.
The forthcoming expansion will enable key enhancements including:
- Targeted recruitment efforts to attract students from Northwest Arkansas.
- Incorporation of digital health and distance-learning technologies to reach students in remote areas.
- Expanded clinical training partnerships with hospitals and surgical centers across Northwest Arkansas, improving hands-on learning opportunities in community- based health care settings.
“The expansion of this program enables us to further strengthen our nurse anesthetist training in Northwest Arkansas, which is vital to meeting regional health care needs,” said Ryan Cork, MSHA, vice chancellor of the UAMS Northwest Region. “These generous contributions from our local partners will significantly enhance educational opportunities, clinical resources and student success initiatives.”
According to an Arkansas Center for Nursing report, after peaking at 500 CRNAs in 2015, Arkansas has seen a steady decline to 290 CRNAs as of 2023. Addressing this trend will require targeted interventions, such as increasing educational and training opportunities for nurse anesthetists, offering competitive wages, and implementing incentives to retain talent within the state.
Also, according to a recent Tripp Umbach report commissioned by the Northwest Arkansas Council and Heartland Whole Health Institute, Northwest Arkansas has experienced an 80% increase in health care sector growth between 2018 and 2023, yet more than 2,700 health care-related positions remain unfilled. Among these, nurse anesthetists are in particularly short supply.
UAMS in Little Rock currently accepts only 16 CRNA students per year for the 36-month program despite receiving over 250 qualified applicants per admission cycle, many from Northwest Arkansas. The expanded CRNA program in Fayetteville will increase enrollment by 18 students over five years, helping meet the growing demand for skilled nurse anesthetists.
In the expanded program, students from Northwest Arkansas will spend the last five semesters at clinical facilities in the region. While there will be remote learning options for some classroom instruction, students will attend anesthesia simulations and some labs and classes in Little Rock.
“This collaborative investment reflects a regional commitment to building a more resilient health care workforce in our rapidly growing region,” said Washington Regional President and CEO Larry Shackelford. “With one of the state’s busiest surgical services departments, an outpatient surgery center and a Level II Trauma Center with 24/7 immediate anesthesiology coverage, Washington Regional understands the vital role of CRNAs. Innovative programs such as this allow us to further our mission of improving the health of our community.”