Providing students with hands-on experience that enables them to explore what a profession in medicine entails can go a long way towards solidifying their desire to pursue such a career path.
“Our objective is giving students the chance to see the many opportunities available to them in the health-care field — not just nurses and doctors, but also physio, medical clerks, EMS, pharmacy, lab techs," said Gerry Greschner, Sundre Hospital Futures Committee secretary.
On Monday, May 6, the committee, in coordination with Sundre Hospital and Care Centre as well as Rural Health Professions Action Plan (RhPAP) and Sundre Health Professional Attraction and Retention Committee, hosted the third annual nurse skills event at the hospital in conjunction with Nursing Week, said Greschner.
“It was a great opportunity for students who are interested in a career in nursing,” said Grade 10 student Presley Layden.
Sundre High School Grade 10 students Taylor Guzmanuk, left, and Presley Layden, right, learn how to administer an injection under the direction of a licensed practical nurse. Submitted photo
“It gives them the hands-on experience so they can kind of be sure if that’s something they want to pursue in the future,” said Layden, adding her favourite station was practising to draw blood from a realistic dummy arm.
“They’re really fancy,” she said about the training tool.
“They have all of these different tubes that run into the artificial veins in the arm, so you can actually draw out” a stand-in fluid for blood that’s basically dyed-red water, she said.
Layden expressed a firm commitment to pursue a career in health care and plans to eventually apply at Mount Royal University as well as the University of Alberta.
“I definitely want to pursue a nursing degree,” she said, adding she hopes to specialize in obstetrics.
While Layden would like to remain in a rural setting, she anticipates potentially spending some time in the city to facilitate specializing in the particular field she’s interested in.
Inspiring her along that path was an innate passion that she’s carried since a young age.
“Ever since I was little, I’ve always wanted to be a doctor,” she said.
“And then I got more involved in the nursing skills day, and that just got me more interested.”
From left: Sundre High School Grade 11 students Megan Moore and Jade Wilde, whose backs are turned, alongside Dakota Lafferty and Caleb Gobert learn about stabilizing a casualty at the EMS station with Madi Anderson acting as a patient on the spinal board. Submitted photo
Taylor Guzmanuk, also a Grade 10 student, agreed with her classmate that the nursing skills event is a great opportunity.
“It reassures lots of the students if they want to go into the medical field,” whether a doctor, nurse, or even a nurse practitioner, which is “what I’m striving for.”
Guzmanuk’s favourite station was also drawing blood.
“It was the most interesting. It was a new station this year, and it was really cool to see how it all worked.”
Nearly everyone is familiar with being on the receiving end of a needle, she said, but being on the other side of the table presented a unique perspective.
Upon graduating in a couple of years, she aspires to study at Mount Royal University to start with nursing, followed by a few years in pediatrics before finally pursuing a career as a nurse practitioner.
Guzmanuk has a cousin who works at Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary, and plans to chat more with her this summer about the experience.
“I think it’s going to reassure me that that’s what I want to do, is work with kids.”
Both Guzmanuk and Layden encourage any students who might be even slightly inclined towards a career in health care to consider attending the nursing skills event next time to help them decide.
The attraction and retention committee had previously pondered ways to provide students more exposure and information about health-care careers, eventually leading RhPAP to suggest trying out a skills day, said Greschner.
“They had never done one with high school students before,” she said.
“Usually they have med students participate. But it was a success, from the start, the kids were super excited. Our first year we had 50 students from Sundre.”
Last year, the program was expanded and students from Cremona were extended an invitation, drawing out more than 50 students and six skills stations. This year, two more stations were included and students from Caroline were also offered the opportunity to participate, increasing the number of students to close to 80. Students were split into groups of 10 and proceeded to rotate through all of the stations, she said.
“The suturing station and EMS are always a hit.”
The eight stations were as follows: IVs and diagnostic imaging, which was run by NAIT instructors; administering injections; suturing, commonly known as stitching; cardiac response; casting; EMS; physio; and airway management. There were also a number of speakers during the lunch break who discussed their different roles, she said.
From left: Sundre High School Grade 10 students Saige Harper, MacKenna Melcher and Kyonna Sawyer are introduced to the delicate practice of suturing on Monday, May 6 at the Sundre Hospital and Care Centre during the third annual nurse skills event held in conjunction with the start of National Nursing Week. Submitted photo
Sundre hospital staff provided time and space to teach the sessions, while EMS, who were big fan favourites last year, again took part. Members from the attraction and retention committee also attended to offer support and to manage the non-hospital duties such as snacks, she said.
“Our ultimate goal is to encourage these young people to choose a career in the medical field and then come back home to rural Alberta to practise,” she said.
“The slogan of Grow our Own is what we are aiming for — our own kids to come back home.”
