Bio
Crystal O’Guin, DNP, CRNA is an Assistant Professor in the Virginia Commonwealth University Doctor of Nurse Anesthesia Practice Program. She is the course coordinator for Principles and Practice courses throughout the curriculum. Dr. O’Guin also team-teaches in courses throughout the program in both the classroom and simulation lab. In 2023, she will also be overseeing doctoral research projects as a first reader and advisor to VCU DNAP students and is currently based at the Northern Virginia campus.
Dr. O’Guin graduated from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center DNP program in Memphis, TN. As a DNP student, she explored postoperative cognitive dysfunction in the elderly and completed her doctoral project on ‘Acupressure in the prevention of postoperative nausea and vomiting’ (Thweatt, K., O’Guin, C., Finder, S.). She also holds a Master’s Degree in Nursing Education from Union University in Jackson, TN. She regularly speaks at the state and national level and has published in several peer-reviewed journals.
Prior to joining VCU in the fall of 2022, she was an Assistant Professor and the Research Director in the Georgetown University DNAP program (2018-2022). She continues to serve at Georgetown as an Adjunct Faculty. She also previously taught in a BSN program and worked in staff development as an educator in the hospital setting. She was the hospital Course Director of ACLS and PALS at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital from 2008 to 2015 where she started and coordinated a high-fidelity simulation program and developed a hospital-wide cadaveric and simulation-based oncological-specific pediatric emergency training program.
In addition to her role at the University, Dr. O’Guin is currently practicing anesthesia at the bedside in the outpatient setting. She also served as a preceptor to nurse anesthesia students in the clinical setting.
Her current interests include perioperative arrest and crisis management. Dr. O’Guin volunteers on professional committees at the state and national level. She is a member of the AANA Faculty Stabilization Task Force (2020- present). She has also served on the NBCRNA Continued Professional Certification Assessment Standard Setting Committee (2018) and the AANA Foundation Spring & Fall Grant and Poster Review Committees (2019-present). She was a member of the group attending the AANA Inaugural Health Policy Institute class at George Mason University (2019). She was the Sigma Theta Tau Chapter Counselor for the DNAP students at Georgetown, member of the Executive Council for the Georgetown University Honor Council (2019-2022), and is an article reviewer and editor for the International Student Journal of Nurse Anesthesia. She is a member of the Virginia Association of Nurse Anesthetists and serves on the Education Committee and the PAC Committee.