On a mission: First DNP nurse anesthesia cohort prepares to graduate

DNP Nurse Anesthesia students Lauren Evans (left), Andrew Hester and Bethany Earhart traveled to Honduras as part of a mission trip to help patients in need. Photo courtesy of Lauren Evans.

After five years as a nurse in intensive care units—including stints as a travel nurse during the COVID-19 pandemic—Andrew Hester found himself ready for change.

In January 2022, he joined the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Nurse Anesthesia program at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, marking the beginning of a rigorous three years.

“It feels really cool. It feels like a little part of history,” Hester said. “We were kind of the guinea pigs in some ways, navigating the new program, but it’s been good.”

On Friday, Dec. 13, Hester and his classmates will be the first cohort to graduate from UTC’s DNP Nurse Anesthesia program. Transitioning from a master’s-level degree to a DNP in 2022, the program prepares graduates to begin working immediately as Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs).

“This program allows students to start clinical practice where they’re much needed,” said UTC Graduate Nursing Programs and Business Operations Coordinator Lindsay Greiner. “It also provides opportunities for them to advance their careers—whether they want to teach or take on leadership roles in the field.”

Thanks to partnerships with several Chattanooga-area hospitals and beyond, students in the program can complete their clinical hours at locations that are more convenient to them.

Hester and his classmate Lauren Evans are part of a cohort of students who completed their first semester online, followed by in-person coursework in Chattanooga. For their final two years, they returned closer to home in Mississippi to complete clinical rotations.

Lauren Evans

“The professors are great. They’re awesome about working with the students,” said Evans, who is from Ridgeland, Mississippi. “I think sometimes at other schools, it’s like they forget that life continues outside of school, but our teachers do a good job of supporting you no matter what’s going on in your life, which makes our program stand out to me.”

For Hester, who is originally from northwest Alabama, the program’s flexibility allowed him to return to Mississippi to complete his clinical rotations at a hospital where he already had experience.

“It was great to come back and train in a place I already knew,” he said.

As part of their training, Evans, Hester and fellow cohort student Bethany Earhart participated in a mission trip to Honduras with Baptist Medical and Dental Missions International in September. On the trip, the three were responsible for giving patients anesthesia for free or low-cost gynecological surgeries, supporting underserved women in the region.

Most of the operations included hysterectomies and bladder sling surgeries, which are quite common for women in the U.S. but are not as accessible for many women in villages throughout Honduras.

“They were very thankful for us,” Hester said. “Several of them had to walk several miles to get to the hospital and had to wake up at 1 or 2 in the morning to get there.

“That’s just how much it meant to them to get that done.”

Hester said they also helped nearby villages by providing clean water and food to residents.

Andrew Hester

“We would go to some of the villages and provide them with fresh water and beans,” he said. “A few days after surgeries were done, we would load up on the bus and do that. It was really eye-opening because most of them might have a mattress on the ground or no doors.”

Evans described the gratitude they received as “life changing.”

“It makes you appreciate what you have here because things we take for granted in the U.S. are not guaranteed for everyone,” she said.

Their mission trip experience was only a fraction of the dedication Hester and Evans put into the program. Over the past three years, they balanced class work and long hours in clinicals.

“The program is 36 months long,” Greiner said. “They give up so much of their life while they’re in the program. They really put their lives on hold while they’re here, so it’s a huge accomplishment for the students to go on and start working.”

When Evans joined the program, the goal was to receive a doctorate-level degree so that she would be prepared for any program requirement changes within the field of nurse anesthesiology. She didn’t know that she would form such a tight-knit bond with the other students.

“We have about 20 other students in our class,” she said. “Four of us do clinicals down in Mississippi, so it’s just been the four of us these last three years that are really close. It’s a little bittersweet for everybody to be going their separate ways.”

Next year, Evans said she will move to Huntsville, Alabama, where she will work at Crestwood Medical Center. She will marry her fiancé in April.

Similarly, Hester is getting married in February and hopes to begin working in nurse anesthesia shortly after.

“It’s a big step,” he said. “I’m excited. It’s been a long three years.”