Cherishing the Student Experience - School of Nursing - University ...

COVER STORY
Making the Rounds Around Grounds:
Nursing Student Life in 2004
Not everyone understands
what goes into
a nursing education.
For students today it’s a life packed
with tight schedules, rigorous classes,
clinicals (an opportunity for students
to utilize the classroom and laboratory
skills they’ve learned in a clinical setting),
patients, charts, exams, and
study. It’s always been a life of close
bonds and life-changing experiences.
From the first day to the last, nursing
students eat, sleep, breathe, and sometimes
even dream nursing. As they
progress through the program, they are
together in every class. By their third
and fourth year, juggling lectures and
clinicals can be a little like hitting the
10th mile in a 26-mile run. If they are
in class all day, then their lunch hour is
a run to the hospital to pick up the
next day’s patient assignments. That
night they read about the patient,
study his or her disease and medications.
The next day is full of patient
care, journals, logs, and more study
before the cycle starts again the
next day.
“Our students are just amazing,”
says Theresa Carroll, PhD, assistant
dean. “In their last semester, many traditional
college students pick fairly
easy courses. In comparison, the last
seven weeks for a nursing student is
called the synthesis practicum, a mentorship
during which they are doing
the work of a full-time nurse. Many of
our Second Degree students are also
married, with families. Imagine juggling
all that responsibility.”
So for many, stepping outside the
intensity is important. Finding outlets,
doing things they love—such as the
student who plays viola in the
University Symphony, the varsity
cheerleader or the Madison House volunteer—gives
them breathing space
and time to escape the daily rigors.
“We encourage it. We tell new students
to take time to get adjusted,
check the University out. We think
you’ll be a happier person if you get
involved,” says Carroll. “And research
has shown that the more involved college
students are, including nursing
students, the better their grades are…it
makes them better time managers and
they are doing what they really love.”
It seems the busier some students
are, the more they love it. Here’s how
four nursing school students balance
their nursing education with University
student life.
Heidi Ritter
It was September 11, the same morning
Americans were stunned by images of
flaming towers, that Heidi Ritter (BSN
’04) put on her Air Force ROTC uniform
and was sworn in to military
service. “I’m a patriotic person and
wanted to see what it was like,” she says.
Heidi always knew she’d choose a
profession serving people. But serving
has taken on a life of its own and sometimes
seems more like a way of life.
She’s got an ongoing list of things she’d
like to do, never convinced she’s doing
quite enough. After her second year in
nursing school she was in boot camp in
Texas, so the next summer she and her
sister traveled to Thailand teaching
English to orphans. Last spring break
and this year, volunteer work with
Virginia Beach-based Orphan Network
took her to Nicaragua. “I wanted to give
Heidi Ritter.
back,” she says. “Reaching out beyond
this culture is very moving. I will
always remember these experiences.”
A typical day for Heidi begins at six
in the morning with ROTC workouts,
continuing long past dinner. Because
of a required clinical she misses one
Air Science class. So afternoons are
spent meeting with her professor to
catch up on what she missed. Then it’s
a quick meal and evenings of ROTC
training and meetings. She is part of a
simulated wing structure and since
she’s now considered a cadet officer,
she supervises others. “The nursing
school and ROTC have been flexible
to meet my needs,” she says. “I’m able
to manage all of this because of the
14 The Virginia Legacy SPRING 2004