The Diversity and Inclusion Committee promotes increased diversity and inclusion in the Nurse Anesthesia program; recommends strategies to both recruit, and retain, students that contribute to the diversity of the CRNA profession. Members include students, faculty, and alumni.Ìý

Faculty Members

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Team 25 Members

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Team 24 MembersÌý

Department Support of D&I 

• Curriculum evaluation by all course directors to incorporate more diverse research articles, when possible, to support course content
• Initiated a Journal club related to topics on healthcare disparities are conducted every 2-3 months.
• In June 2023, RFU Nurse Anesthesia Program hosted the Diversity Nurse Anesthesia Mentorship Program . Over 150 nurses attended the weekend event involving mentorship, networking, and hands-on familiarization of airway and regional anesthesia skills.

Community Involvement

• Dr. Chambers works with underserved youth in the program providing presentations and hands-on skills to expose and familiarize students to healthcare professions. 
• Dr. Tierney has been involved with outreach events locally by giving presentations to several undergraduate nursing programs in diverse communities about the field of nurse anesthesia. Topics include how to get into nursing and anesthesia school, and about our program specifically.  Presentations were given to students in Joliet and Aurora, IL.
• Dr. Greenwood has provided lectures to local HS students to promote awareness of the profession and encourage students to pursue nursing and possibly a career in anesthesia.

Doctoral Project Work That Supports Diversity

Several DNP projects are underway or have been completed by student cohorts that address diversity, equity and inclusion in nurse anesthesia.

• A recent project completed by Alison Lagow, DNP, CRNA and Jeremy Doncouse, CRNA, DNP quantified the diversity demographics of nurse anesthesia residents nationwide, and benchmarked them against population data, to determine how well the matriculated student body represents our national demographics. In addition to race and ethnicity, this project is also determined the average age of nurse anesthesia residents, how many of them have children, and how many of them are non-native English speakers. Understanding these dynamics has allowed the RFU Nurse Anesthesia department to build programs and employ specific measures that meet the unique needs of our diverse residents.  The project results can be found .
• Another project currently underway is to determine the feasibility of hosting a Nurse Anesthesia program a Historically Black College or University (HBCU). Currently there are no nurse anesthesia training programs located within any Historically Black College or University (HBCU).  Understanding the barriers to having a program in these settings is expected to inform university administrators as they consider expanding their academic programs to meet the expanding needs of healthcare in America, particularly in the shortage area of anesthesia.
• Another DNP project from Team 22, conducted by Maureen Leidecker, CRNA, DNP and Ebonee Blake, CRNA, DNP was to assess and realign the student peer mentoring program in a way that better supported student needs.  The project included a needs assessment, characteristic matching, and formal training of student mentors. The findings from this project have informed the department's approach to mentorship training and mentee assignments for the past two years with great success. .