High school students discover nursing

Wed, July 16, 2008 |

Northwest Indiana high school students will find out what nurses do and what it takes to become a nurse during a summer camp hosted by Valparaiso University’s College of Nursing and Porter Valparaiso Hospital Campus.

The Discover Nursing Summer Camp, taking place July 21 to 24, is designed to encourage students to pursue nursing or other related healthcare careers and help address the shortage of healthcare providers in Indiana.

Beth Olejniczak, director of the Virtual Nursing Learning Center at the College of Nursing, said students will spend the first two days of the camp on campus learning about basic nursing skills such as checking vital signs, taking someone’s health history, giving shots and CPR. The program includes hands-on activities and students will have a chance to work with the College of Nursing’s SIM Man – a patient simulator that can be programmed to perform numerous physical human functions.

The campers also will meet some of Valparaiso’s current nursing students and hear what life in nursing school is like.

“These are students considering whether nursing is the right career for them, so our camp will give a bit of an introduction and let them see the different possibilities within the nursing profession,” Olejniczak said.

Olejniczak said only 10 students were accepted for the camp to allow each to gain more hands-on experience with Valparaiso’s nursing faculty and students in the Virtual Nursing Learning Center.

The student campers also will have an opportunity during the last two days of the camp to learn about Porter’s cardiology, respiratory services and diagnostic imaging departments, and to shadow nurses working in the labor/delivery, intensive care and emergency departments.

To conclude the summer camp, students will perform a community child injury prevention activity at the Porter County Fair.

Valparaiso’s camp is one of several Discover Nursing Summer Camps being sponsored by the Northwest Indiana Area Health Education Center and Nursing 2000 North.