“I assist with tissue handling, cutting, hemostasis, and so much more,” she said, including coronary artery bypass grafting, valvular repair and replacement, great vessel repair and replacement, and pulmonary resections. “The resources that will be available to incoming students in this program, with the new simulation center on campus and the use of the Medical Education and Research Institute, are state of the art.”Īppling said, as an RFNA/ACNP she is able to bring nursing critical-thinking skills to work collaboratively with the entire operative team. “I am so excited about this, as the University of Tennessee Health Science Center’s College of Nursing, with its long history of exemplary education, brings a new academic level of validation to the role of the RNFA,” Appling said. Appling joined the College of Nursing as lead faculty for the program in February. She has more than 30 years of experience in the operating room, 25 of them at Memphis Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center. Nancy Appling, MSN, APRN, ACNP-BC, CNOR, CRNFA, is a graduate of the college’s Acute Care Nurse Practitioner program and a certified RNFA. The College of Nursing looked to one of its own to lead the program. On-the-job training no longer is accepted in the state as validation for this highly specialized area of practice.” “In the state, if you want to identify yourself as an RN first assistant, you must go through a formalized educational program and receive a certificate of completion. “Even though this role has been developed in the past through an on-the-job sort of training, the state of Tennessee passed legislation giving this role title protection,” Dr. “Several clinical partners identified the need to offer this program, because this role has become much more engaged in the community.”Īlso, recent action by the state legislature reinforced interest in offering the program. “One of the areas that quickly came to the top was the registered nurse first assistant,” she said.
Because there are so few programs in the country and the need for formally educated RNFAs is so critical, the College of Nursing plans to expand the availability of this program to nurses across the country and even globally, as the need is identified and resources are available.ĭiane Pace, PhD, APRN, FNP-BC, NCMP, FAANP, associate professor and director of Special Academic Programs in the College of Nursing, said the college constantly considers what programs it needs to develop to meet the nursing educational needs in the health care community it serves. The program is a major milestone in the College of Nursing’s ongoing efforts to meet local and statewide health care needs, expand educational and practice opportunities for nurses, and increase marketability of its graduates. BSNs or RNs enrolled in an accredited RN to BSN program who are certified perioperative nurses, and advanced practice registered nurses seeking to advance their skills, are eligible to apply to the RNFA program. The first students in the new program begin their training in August.Īccording to the Competency and Credentialing Institute, which recommends RNFA programs, there are 17 in the United States, and only 1,260 certified CRNFAs in the country.
The new program will prepare nurses with the skills needed to provide evidence-based care to surgical patients before, during, and after surgical procedures.
The program, which prepares nurses to provide care to surgical patients, is one of only a few in the country.Ī new Registered Nurse First Assistant (RNFA) program in the College of Nursing at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) is the first in Tennessee, and one of only a few nationally. Diane Pace, left, and Nancy Appling are leading the new RN First Assistant Program in the UTHSC College of Nursing.
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