Faculty discernment of student registered nurse anesthetist's personality characteristics that contribute to safe and unsafe nurse anesthesia practice: metrics of excellence.

A review of the literature revealed that nurse anesthesia educational program (NAEP) faculty members perceive certain personality characteristics and clinical awareness as the most important traits needed for clinical success in an NAEP. Clinical success in an NAEP is equated with safe nurse anesthesia practice. The purpose of this study is for NAEP academic faculty and expert Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) clinical faculty to discern which of the 63 intrapersonal and 15 interpersonal characteristics that student registered nurse anesthetists (SRNAs) exhibit contribute to safe or unsafe nurse anesthesia practice. A pilot study of expert CRNA clinical faculty (n = 10) was undertaken, followed by a prospective randomized survey of NAEP academic faculty (n = 25). The results were analyzed and determined that 17 intrapersonal and 4 interpersonal characteristics are beneficial for safe nurse anesthesia practice, whereas 20 intrapersonal and 3 interpersonal characteristics portend unsafe nurse anesthesia practice. This information can be used to predict clinical performance, develop more stringent NAEP admission processes in the form of a checklist or test, provide an outline for clinical evaluation, help create a tool to educate novice CRNA clinical faculty, and furnish a strategy for the remediation of unsuccessful of SRNAs.