Diversifying the field of anesthesiology  – Wallena Gould

Apple Podcast | Spotify

Episode 85 | Duration: 33:49

Wallena Gould, EdD, CRNA, FAAN, is the founder and former Chief Nurse Anesthetist of the Diversity in Nurse AnesthesiaMentorship Program. For 18 years, this non-profit, grassroots organization has successfully mentored more than 820 racially diverse critical care nurses into 92 out of 130 graduate nurse anesthesia programs. In addition, Dr. Gould was the lead consultant for a $1 million HRSA Workforce Diversity Grant for theUniversity of Tennessee at Chattanooga Nurse Anesthesia Program. She also was the Chair of the Diversity Task Force for the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology (AANA) from 2015 - 2016. In 2015, Dr. Gould was inducted as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, where she is one of 41 Fellows who are Nurse Anesthetists and the first CRNA of color inducted as a member. In 2018, she was the recipient of The Trailblazer Award from the National Black Nurses Association. In 2019, Dr. Gould served as a member of the American Academy of Nursing Diversity and Inclusivity Committee. Notably, that same year she was named the recipient of the 2019 American Association of Nurse Anesthetists Agatha Hodgins Award for Outstanding Achievement.

In this episode of Caring Greatly, Dr. Gould shares how and why she created the Diversity in Nurse Anesthesia Mentorship Program, a program designed to support nurses from under-represented groups as they learn about and pursue advanced anesthesia education and careers. She describes how the program aims to create smoother pathways to advanced credentialing to students and mid-career nurses who may not have exposure or experience with these types of career opportunities. Dr. Gould explains the importance of mentorship and the value of having diverse representation in all aspects of nursing care.

Links related to Dr. Gould’s podcast episode:  

• The Diversity in Nurse Anesthesia Mentorship Program website
• Nursing Outlook article, Underrepresented nurses’ perceptions of a mentorship program supporting their applications for advanced practice nursing programs: A descriptive cross-sectional survey study (subscription required) 
• Nursing Outlook article, Addressing structural and systemic barriers in nurse anesthesia programs: Recommendation to eliminate the GRE and adopt holistic admissions (subscription required)
• Teaching and Learning in Nursing article, Historical underpinning to diversifying nurse anesthesia programs: A model of success (subscription required)