What Happens After School?
Credentialing Examination
After completion of an approved program, candidates are eligible to sit for the Initial Certification Examination.
This exam is offered three times per year with dates in February, June, and October to meet the needs of students who have various graduation dates.
Your NCCAA credential will be granted after successful completion of the initial Certification Examination. It can take up to 8-10 weeks to receive your results. Once passing results are released to you, you will receive your credential stating that you are officially a Certified Anesthesiologist Assistant! Congratulations!
After taking the initial Certification Examination, you will be required to take the Continued Demonstration of Qualifications of Anesthesiologist Assistants examination, or CDQ for short. In prior years, the CDQ was required six (6) years after the initial Certification Examination but as of 2020, the CDQ is required to be completed four (4) years after the initial Certification Examination. After the first time taking the CDQ, you will need to continue taking the CDQ examination every 10 years to maintain your credential.
Continuing Medical Education
Once your CAA credential is granted, you will need to renew your credential every two (2) years and meet continuing medical education (CME) requirements. Currently, the requirement is 50 CMEs every two years. In the past the requirement was 40 CMEs, but this has changed as of 2022. Of the 50 CMEs, 40 of them must be related to anesthesia directly. Ten of the 50 CMEs can be from the “other” category, which could include professional development courses, or certifications such as BLS and ACLS.
State Licensure and Privileges
After you have received your diploma and graduation verification from the program you attended, along with your confirmed credential from passing the initial Credential Examination, you can apply for a license in the state of your employment.
This process can also be lengthy and varies state-to-state. Once a state license is granted, you can apply for hospital privileges so that you can begin employment. Again, this process can be very lengthy, but it’s not unheard of to be quick depending on the state in which you are seeking licensure.
An example timeline is below:
Early June: Take initial certification examination
July/August: Receive exam results
Late August: Receive diploma and confirmation from school of graduation (apply for state license, begin hospital credentialing/privileges process)
September: State licensure granted (submit license for approval of privileges in hospital credentialing process)
October: Receive hospital privileges and begin working
This is just an example of the timeline and may vary depending on program attended, the state in which you are seeking licensure, and individual hospital committees that grant privileges.
That being said: make your budget accordingly. If using federal student loans, the last student loan disbursement will occur at the beginning of your last semester of schooling, which could potentially be 6 months before you’ll receive a paycheck from your employment.