Eleven USC Upstate Nursing Students Gain Real-Life Experience At St. Francis Hospital
July 28, 2010
SPARTANBURG, SC – July 28, 2010 – The University of SouthCarolina Upstate is leading the way at Bon Secours St. Francis HealthSystem nursing extern program. Eleven nursing students from USC Upstatewere accepted into the eight-week nursing extern program, where they aregaining real-life experience.
Eighty applicants from different colleges applied to the St. Francisnursing extern program and only 24 were accepted. Out of those 24students, 11 were from USC Upstate. Each USC Upstate nursing student iseager and excited to be gaining experience they need to become notablenurses.
“I want to be able to see real nursing situations and have one-on-onetime between just the patient and me,” said Sarah Wasserman, USCUpstate nursing student. “I am ready to apply all the skills I amlearning in class to a real-world setting.
Each nursing extern is experiencing various opportunities in a widerange of units. St. Francis is opening new doors to USC Upstate.
Nurse Educator Jeannie George explains, “I am hoping to get a lot ofinterest from the nurses, even though they don’t have clinicalexperience in the operating or recovery room. We hope this stimulatestheir experience about becoming an operating nurse.”
Experience is what this journey is about as these 11 nurse externscomplete the eight-week course. It is apparent that is what the USCUpstate nursing externs want.
Danielle Harris put it simply, “All of us just want and need experience and I think we are finding it here.”
St. Francis and USC Upstate are building lasting relations that will build a brighter future for the health care system.
“I want this to be a positive experience in each clinical area. Theywill be learning how use their skills in a true, realistic workenvironment. At the same time, we want to form lasting relationships,”said Elaine Payne, clinical nurse specialist at Bon Secours HealthSystem.
