Chris Giarratani, DNP '21, BS '15, RN, CCRN-CMC, TCRN

• Hometown: New Hyde Park, NY
• Favorite Self-Care Activities: Exercise and weightlifting
• Undergraduate Education: Dual degree, BS in nursing and BA in psychology, University at Buffalo, 2015
• Graduate Program: DNP '21 (Nurse Anesthesia)

Perceived Barriers and Facilitators to the Utilization of Spinal Anesthesia for Patients Undergoing Total Hip Arthroplasty among Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists Practicing in New York State

I chose UB because of the excellent experience and education that I had as an undergraduate student. I expect to have a similar experience throughout my doctoral education at UB. 

My primary interest is in providing high quality anesthesia care to a wide variety of patients in an acute care setting. My interest began as an ICU RN, where I would regularly work alongside nurse anesthetists and anesthesiologists. Before returning to school, I shadowed these anesthetists, furthering my interest in this area.

I would like to become an expert provider of anesthesia and have the ability to maintain my patients’ safety and comfort, during the most complex cases. I would also like to become a professor and teach anesthesia students. 

Researchers have developed many effective methods to improve health care. However, they have still not made their way into clinical practice. I will use my education as a DNP, to disseminate this knowledge and translate these evidence-based practices into more widespread use. By promoting the use of the most up-to-date methods, I should be able to provide the best outcomes for my patients and the community in which I practice.

This scholarship will allow me to focus on my didactic and clinical studies by reducing my financial concerns of funding my doctoral education. Funding a doctoral degree can cause extreme anxiety, which would be distracting from my school work. This is especially true as the nurse anesthesia program is full-time and year-round. These circumstances make it very difficult to earn money and perform optimally in my school work. This scholarship will allow me to devote my sole attention to my academic and professional goals and make the most of my time at UB.