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Anesthesia education is highly stressful. Some stress motivates students, but excess stress leads to failure and unhappiness. While stress cannot be eradicated from the practice of anesthesia, it can be managed, especially when its signs are recognized early. The purposes of this study were to determine the perception of students' stress in nurse anesthesia programs and to examine the presence and use of stress management programs and open-door policies existing in nurse anesthesia schools. An author-developed questionnaire assessed the stress management programs and open-door policies of nurse anesthesia programs, Life Event Scale scores of the students, school-related stressors, and student coping strategies. The study, which surveyed all 2,200 of the nation's nurse anesthesia students, with a 68.4% response rate, showed that students experience a significant level of stress. It also demonstrated a need for schools to develop stress management programs.

This study was conducted to determine if a relationship exists between various characteristics of nurse anesthesia schools and their success rate on the national certification examination (NCE). Independent variables included the number of students per class, number of clinical rotation sites, program length, type of degree or certificate granted, program structure, and date of graduation. Data were collected by a questionnaire mailed to all anesthesia schools in the country. Statistical analysis of the data was by Pearson's Product Moment Correlation Coefficient and analysis of variance. No statistically significant relationship was found between any of the variables studied. Recommendations for future study include correlating the schools' passing rate with admission criteria, curriculum, and required instructor qualifications.