SAINT LEO, Fla. – 4 years of lessons, stress and navigating a life post-covid paid off for nursing graduates of Saint Leo College’s inaugural nursing program, and it’s becoming throughout Nationwide Nurses Week this week.
From scrubs to a cap and robe, the very firstclass of nursing graduates are performed. They began this system in 2021 in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic when the world was very totally different.
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What they’re saying:
“I really feel like at the moment we’re all nonetheless sort of in a panic, and I actually couldn’t grasp how the world had modified with that,” stated Emily Edwards, who graduated on Wednesday from the nursing program at Saint Leo College.
Edwards first spoke with FOX 13’s Briona Arradondo 4 years in the past as she started her journey. Now, she stated she’s a unique particular person.
“I truthfully really feel far more ready than I ever thought I’d,” stated Edwards.
She discovered from nursing instructors like Paige Porter, who teaches pharmacology, crucial care, nursing transition and extra.
“COVID modified all the things, for positive. And one cause that this program was launched was to handle the nursing scarcity,” stated Porter.
Dig deeper:
Nicely-being and self-care grew to become a precedence as a response to nurses’ burnout in the course of the pandemic.
“I all the time would inform them which you can’t pour from an empty cup,” stated Porter.
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She additionally taught them concerning the newest know-how they’ll come throughout within the area.
“I like incorporating AI into familiarizing them with that, after all, utilizing it ethically. However that is turning into an increasing number of predominant in academia and within the healthcare area,” stated Porter.
The hands-on expertise the graduates obtained outdoors the classroom helped them out in a manner they stated they couldn’t have imagined. Saint Leo College partnered with AdventHealth Zephyrhills as a part of a Devoted Schooling Unit program to pair working nurses with nursing college students.
“We had so many alternatives to be absolutely immersed into the scientific expertise as a result of I really feel like what they train you in nursing college is totally totally different than the actual world,” stated Edwards. “I used to be just about doing 99 % of what I’d be doing as a nurse. I simply had somebody watching over me.”
It has solidified what nursing means to her.
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“It’s not simply giving meds and seeing sufferers, however it’s additionally sitting there for sufferers once they’re going by the toughest occasions of their life,” stated Edwards.
What’s subsequent:
Now headed dwelling up north, she stated she hopes to take her board exams in June earlier than returning to Florida as a licensed nurse, coming full circle.
“I’m between a few hospitals in Tampa and Sarasota truly, however my dream job is definitely to work in pediatrics,” stated Edwards.
Future nurses like Edwards are wanted in additional methods than one.
“It’s not only a scarcity of nurses generally, however individuals who actually care about what they do. And I sort of hope I can at the very least fill my little a part of the world with that care and compassion,” stated Edwards.
The Supply: The knowledge on this story was gathered by FOX 13’s Briona Arradondo.
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