Nursing students to fire questions, speed-dating style
Think speed dating and then think nurses.
The University of Regina Nursing Students Society (URNSS) planned to use the format for a “speed nursing ” event at the university’s Riddell Centre on Friday night.
The plan was that students would line up in front of experienced registered nurses sitting at tables and pepper them with questions about their areas of expertise, Tiffany Klemack, president of URNSS, said Friday afternoon. Every seven minutes, they can rotate and ask a new nurse new questions.
She was expecting 19 nurses with a wide variety of backgrounds, including a sexual assault nurse examiner, a corrections nurse, a cruise nurse, a nurse coroner and a disaster relief nurse.
“I hope this event opens up the horizons of students,” Klemack said.
The event will be particularly useful for U of R nursing students entering their fourth year of studies.
In their final year, they must choose the top 10 places they ’d like to go for rural or community nursing experience and their top 10 acute care settings. The students will spend six weeks in each area.
Talking with nurses who have experience in those areas will give students a better idea of where they’d like to go for their practicum, Klemack said.
“Lots of students found it very overwhelming because they didn’t know where they wanted to go,” she said. “We don’t know what some of these careers entail ... The facility that they ’re placed in often hires them, so if they know what they want to do and they’re hired, then it sets them up for success.”
Susanne Nicolay was to be among the registered nurses taking questions from students. A nurse for almost 25 years, Nicolay was excited to share her love of the profession.
For the majority of her career she’s been an HIV nurse. But for the past 18 months, Nicolay has been working with Dr. Stu Skinner and with a group of physicians.
“Much of my work now takes me out of the city to First Nations communities on-reserve where we do clinics monthly for primary and chronic disease care management, but also do all kinds of targeted events around liver health and HIV testing and wellness,” Nicolay said. “I love it!”
She’s happy to share her passion about HIV nursing, particularly with students who will soon be practising.
“I often talk to students about HIV and hepatitis C and about working with vulnerable populations,” Nicolay said. “Any time that I get a chance to remind them about those pieces, and it’s about individuals and their choices and their right to choose, those are good opportunities.”