Published: June 11, 2009 05:44 pm      

LU and Christus hospitals to hold Nightingale Experience

Fifty high school students from 18 area schools will visit Lamar University and Christus Hospital St. Elizabeth and St. Mary Friday and Saturday, June 12 and 13, to learn first hand about the medical profession.

Lamar and Christus will host the Nightingale Experience, whose goal is to introduce high school students to nursing and the job opportunities available within the profession, said Eileen Curl, professor and chair of the JoAnne Gay Dishman Department of Nursing at Lamar.

Participants will practice nursing skills Friday morning in the McFaddin Ward Health Sciences Building at Lamar. They will be at St. Mary Friday afternoon and at St. Elizabeth Saturday morning.

High schools participating in the event include Bridge City, Buna, Central Medical Magnet, Community Christian, Evadale, Hamshire-Fannett, Hull-Daisetta, Monsignor Kelly, Legacy Christian Academy, Little Cypress-Mauriceville, Lumberton, Memorial, Nederland, Ozen, Port Neches-Groves, Sabine Pass and Vidor.

“We are encouraging teens to select nursing as a career,” Curl said. The Nightingale Experience gives students a first-hand look at nursing and the hospital setting, Curl said. “The goal is to showcase nursing while students are still making career decisions.”

The program, now in its seventh year, will allow students to receive hands-on learning while working in a simulated hospital setting.

Students will learn about nursing through discussions with faculty and by practicing skills in Lamar’s Edna Horn Gay Learning Center, Curl said. There, for example, students can assist an obstetric mannequin in delivering a baby – and help resuscitate a high-tech mannequin that is experiencing a heart attack, she said.

“Nursing has many more career options than what is portrayed on TV,” Curl said. “Students don’t realize how many options there are. By visiting both St. Elizabeth and St. Mary campuses of Christus, students obtain insights about a wide range of clinical specialty areas students can pursue.”

Nightingale participants will stay in Cardinal Village, the university’s state-of-the-art residence hall, so they can get a glimpse of student life during their visit, Curl said.

Lamar nursing instructors work closely with area school counselors to identify high school sophomores who are interested in nursing and want to learn more about job opportunities within the field, Curl said. Students are identified and nominated by their counselors, then Lamar nursing instructors select the Nightingale candidates, she said.

Medical professionals predict the nursing shortage in the United States will intensify within the next 10 years. Local hospitals have recruiters who seek out qualified nurses. Curl said nursing offers good pay, flexible hours and job opportunities anywhere in the U.S. because nurses are in high demand.

Lamar University offers both a four-year bachelor’s degree and a two-year associate degree in nursing. Lamar also offers graduate degrees in nursing.

For information about Lamar’s nursing opportunities, contact Eileen Deges Curl, department chair, at eileen.curl@lamar.edu or call the nursing advisor at 409-880-8868.