Facilities

The basic science didactic coursework is presented at Central Connecticut State University, New Britain. Students receive their clinical experience at the Hospital of Saint Raphael in both the operating rooms and other critical care areas. The school also utilizes a number of affiliation sites outside the Hospital for clinical experiences. The Hospital of Saint Raphael is affiliated with the Yale University School of Medicine. The hospital contains some 450 beds and 27 anesthetizing areas. Anesthesia Associates of New Haven, P.C. is the professional corporation that provides all the anesthesia services for the Hospital of Saint Raphael.
Approximately 30,000 anesthetics are administered annually in the hospital. Many different agents are used for anesthesia and involve varied techniques.
Resources are also available for in-hospital anesthesia coursework. The library of the department of anesthesiology as well as the medical library of the Hospital of Saint Raphael is utilized for the clinical coursework phase of the program.
Since the inception of Computerized Adaptive Testing (CAT) for board examination by the Council on Certification of Nurse Anesthetists (CCNA), the Hospital of Saint Raphael School of Nurse Anesthesia has endeavored to familiarize its students with computerized testing strategies and techniques. During the 17 month clinical phase of the program, all tests are administered on the school's computers. Students take a total of 13 computerized examinations during this phase of their training. The tests are designed to approximate the difficulty and overall "character" of the certification exam, and thus offer the student real hands-on experience with computerized test taking.
Additionally, at the end of training, the students are given the opportunity to take a computerized exam on all material, to help the individual assess personal strengths and weaknesses in taking computerized examinations. This test is not part of the grading process, but is valuable in preparing the student for actual board examination.