Wellness and Thriving in a Student Registered Nurse Anesthetist Population

With the creation of its Wellness Program, the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) has advocated for renewed emphasis in education, research, and practice on anesthesia provider wellness. This research was designed to explore the relationship between student registered nurse anesthetists' perceived wellness and students' thriving throughout their academic program. Because of the multifactorial nature of wellness and its alignment with the AANA's wellness model, a salutogenic wellness framework provided the theoretical basis for this study. Four variables related to thriving in a nurse anesthesia program were studied in relationship to students' perceived wellness, measured using the Salutogenic Wellness Promotion Scale (SWPS): self-efficacy, academic achievement, technical clinical competence, and patients' perceptions of students' relational skills. Measurements were taken at 5 points during the academic program. There was a significant correlation, using multiple regression analysis, between SWPS and self-efficacy at times 1, 2, and 3, but not at times 4 and 5. The Emotional Score subscale of the SWPS significantly correlated with self-efficacy at the same intervals. Within the variable of student academic achievement, overall wellness negatively correlated with the National Board of Certification & Recertification for Nurse Anesthetists' Self-Evaluation Examination scores. These results have potential implications on nurse anesthesia education.