August 7, 2003

INTENSIVE NEW PROGRAM PUTS BOISE STATE NURSING STUDENTS AHEAD

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They refer to themselves as “The Ten.” No, they are not a cadre of elite soldiers or a club of decimal-loving math enthusiasts, but they have faced challenges and solved problems together. “The Ten” are Boise State University nursing students who took a year’s worth of nursing classes in just eight weeks this summer. When the new semester starts on August 25, these 10 students will be a whole year ahead of their peers and a year closer to providing health-care institutions with additional qualified professionals. With a national nursing shortage on the horizon and no funds or space to expand the nursing program, Boise State’s new “expedited option” intensive summer program reflects a national trend toward implementing alternative ways to provide more nursing graduates. “The new expedited option is just one of the creative ways we are devising to expand nursing education opportunities and provide top-notch nurses to Idaho communities,” said Pam Springer, chair of the Boise State nursing department. “Top-notch” is an apt description of these students, eight women and two men. All achieved very high scores on the Nurse Entrance Test to gain admission to the expedited program. And they continued to excel, working 10-12 hours a day on class work and projects. Learning to start IV lines and nasogastric tubes, assess the respiratory and cardiac function of patients from infants to the elderly, administer medication and promote health education in community settings were just a few of their studies this summer. They took classes and labs in health promotion and assessment, patient care skills, concepts of nursing and professional concepts of community nursing. “Initially I was very wary of teaching those classes in such a short amount of time,” said nursing faculty Joan Carnosso, who taught the new program. “It was fabulous. “They are a fabulous group. Every single one of these students has goals. There were several who want to be nurse anesthetists and one who wants to be a nurse practitioner.” One of “The Ten,” Laurel Whittemore, 28, said the intensive program was “good preparation for what nursing is going to be like, with all different situations and with all different types of people.” “I really liked it. I would love it if they had a second year like that,” said Whittemore. “I actually prefer it to an hour here and an hour there. … During my fall schedule I will be spending as many hours gone [from home] but taking fewer classes.” With three young children, ages 5 and 3 and just 2 months at the beginning of the summer, Whittemore said the intensive classes were an efficient use of her time, since she places her family first in her priorities. After attending college for three years in a sports medicine program then earning a certificate in surgical technology, Whittemore is focused on her chosen career as a nurse anesthetist. A competitive atmosphere often develops among such a driven group of students, said Carnosso. But not here. “They were constantly helping each other. There was no animosity between any of them. And there was no competition,” she said. That attitude of cooperation should serve the students well in their careers, as the ability to work as part of a health-care team is considered essential nowadays for a successful nurse. As part of the health promotion class the students embarked on projects to improve some aspect of their own health, such as smoking cessation or weight loss. Whittemore, a former college track athlete, chose to get back into shape after a difficult, high-risk pregnancy and caesarean section delivery. “You should have seen the students cheering each other on, on the online discussion board where they could discuss their projects,” said Carnosso. “Over the course of the summer we had about 500 messages.” “The Ten” also took brisk walks together at lunchtime along Boise’s Greenbelt, providing a respite from their intense studies as well as time to get to know each other better and encourage fitness. On her path to becoming a nurse anesthetist, Whittemore plans to finish her associate’s degree next year and take the licensure exam to become a registered nurse. She hopes to work in a clinical setting while finishing her bachelor’s degree and then apply to graduate school. The flexibility of the unique Boise State nursing curriculum will allow Whittemore to achieve her multi-level goal. A streamlined nursing program debuted in fall 2002 and offers students the options of completing a certificate program in practical nursing or an associate’s degree or bachelor’s degree for students preparing to become registered nurses. Within all options students start taking nursing classes their first semester. Two Boise State colleges — the Selland College of Applied Technology, which formerly administered the LPN program, and the College of Health Sciences, which administered the RN program — revamped the entire curriculum into one nursing program in the College of Health Sciences. “Successfully integrating two programs like this is unusual in nursing education,” said College of Health Sciences nurse recruiter Margaret Kemp. “The task required a high level of cooperation from faculty in two separate colleges with two separate sets of requirements, policies and procedures. “The effort was well worth it because the new curriculum allows us to be more efficient. The underlying philosophy is that nursing is a career of lifelong learning and we want to offer a continuum of nursing education that enables nurses to return to advance their degrees and broaden their career opportunities.” Opening up a world of opportunities is how Whittemore envisions her nursing education. “I’d like to travel overseas and do research,” she said. “[I want] to help other people. Probably for every nurse it all comes down to that.” -30- Contact Pam Springer Nursing department chair 208 426-3600 pspring@boisestate.edu Joan Carnosso Nursing instructor 208 426-4706 jcarnosso@boisestate.edu Media contacts Pat Pyke communications and marketing 208 426-1987 ppyke@boisestate.edu Margaret Kemp Nurse recruiter 208 426-2671 mkemp@boisestate.edu

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