SE5 Nursing education opportunities are provided for those interested in a nursing career.
Provide one example, with supporting evidence, of a career development opportunity provided by the organization for non-nurse employee or members of the community interested in becoming a registered nurse. This example may include community partnership activities.
NAME OF INITIATIVE:
A Day in the Life of a Nurse
BACKGROUND & PURPOSE
Community Partnership Activity
Chief Nursing Officer and Vice President Gail Gordon, RN, is an active member of the Nursing Consortium of South Florida (Consortium), a 501(c)3 not-for-profit corporation founded in 1997 as the South Florida Nursing Shortage Consortium. She represents Homestead Hospital. (SE5 01 Consortium Newsletter). The Consortium's mission is to strengthen relationships between nurses in practice and academic settings; to promote and facilitate collaboration among the member organizations and with others; to identify and address opportunities for strengthening the nursing community; and to ensure adequate access to high quality ever improving nursing services. Areas of ongoing focus include educating the public, particularly persons considering nursing as a career, on educational avenues through which career opportunities in nursing may be pursued. The Consortium's signature programs include the Day in the Life of a Nurse® (DITLOAN). This program was introduced as a way of exposing high school and middle school students to the real work nurses do and through which interest in nursing careers is fostered. Participating students are surveyed before and after their experience.
METHODS & APPROACH
Career Development Opportunity for Community Members
Each year the Professional Development Council (PDC) supports the efforts of the Consortium by facilitating and hosting the annual Day in the Life of a Nurse® program. On Friday, November 7th 2014, the PDC invited 15 South Dade High School students to participate in the annual event promoted by the Nursing Consortium of South Florida. (SE5 02 Student Field Trip Request) Clinical Learning Educator Regina Russell, RN, as a member of the PDC, sent out an e-mail to all nursing staff recruiting volunteers to assist with tours and hosting the event. (SE5 03 Email to Nurses) PDC planned the day’s agenda using the Consortium’s toolkit as a guide. (SE5 04 DITLOAN Toolkit) During the event, the students, wearing surgical scrubs provided by the facility, toured the medical-surgical, emergency, intensive care, obstetrics, and perioperative units in small groups. Clinical nurses participated in giving “tours” of the units, answered questions and provided opportunities for discussion with the students. After the tour, the students enjoyed lunch while nurses from different specialties shared their stories and experiences about how they became a nurse, their current roles and what nursing meant to them.
PARTICIPANTS
Name/ Credentials |
Years in Nursing / Specialty |
Title |
Department |
Role |
Regina Russell, |
30+/9 years |
Clinical Educator |
Clinical Learning |
Event Coordinator / PDC member |
Rosa Filomeno, |
23/7 years |
Clinical Nurse: Expert |
Medical-Surgical |
PDC Chair |
Geraldine Harris, |
9/9 years |
Clinical Nurse: Advanced |
Emergency |
PDC Member |
Suzanne Arve, |
28/16 years |
Clinical Nurse: Advanced |
Surgery |
PDC Member |
Zenaida Fritz, |
14/7 years |
Clinical Nurse: Advanced |
Obstetrics |
PDC Member |
Rachel Ruiz, RN |
10/10 years |
Clinical Nurse: Proficient |
Medical-Surgical |
PDC Member |
Ann Marie Allen, PhDc, MSN, MHA, RN |
26/12 years |
Assistant Vice President of Nursing |
Nursing Administration |
Tour Guide |
Wendy Rey, RN |
14/6 years |
Manager |
Infection Control |
Tour Guide |
Gail Gordon, MSN, RN, NEA-BC |
45/22 years |
Chief Nursing Officer and Vice President |
Nursing Administration |
Nursing Consortium of South Florida member |
OUTCOMES
Fourteen high school students participated. They were very excited to have the opportunity to meet “real, live” nurses. (SE5 05 2014 Pre- and Post-Event Participant Survey) The students rated their experience of the program positively.
Key Post-Experience Impressions
I liked being with a nurse. |
91.88% |
I learned things I didn't know about nursing. |
94.49% |
I will recommend this program to others. |
96.06% |
I would like to join a Future Nurses Club or help start one at my school. |
69.03% |
I would like to volunteer at a hospital. |
92.65% |
The extent to which participation in the program affected the opinions students held about the nursing profession was also illustrated by their responses to the following questions below.
Other Impressions & Opinions
Question |
Pre-event |
Post-event |
Are you considering a career in nursing? |
70.9% |
71.54% |
Nursing is hard to enter because it requires many qualifications. |
60.25% |
59.15% |
Nursing is the sort of job people like me might do. |
75.46% |
80.11% |
Nursing is a job you can only do if you make careful plans throughout school and college. |
77.59% |
68.62% |
Even though responses to other questions did not vary significantly, there was an increase in the percentage of respondents that saw nursing as a good fit for themselves and a decrease in the perception that nursing is a profession with a significant barrier to entry.
Summary Attachments/Hyperlinks/Evidences
SE5 01 Consortium Newsletter
SE5 02 Student Field Trip Request
SE5 03 Email to Nurses
SE5 04 DITLOAN Toolkit
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