A heart monitor registers the beat of a new born baby. CPR saves the life of a near-drowning victim. An elderly woman receives medication for her high blood pressure. Each of these jobs, and more, is paramount to a career in nursing. This month, high schoolers from all over South Florida have the opportunity to experience life as a registered nurse.

Each year, the Nursing Consortium of South Florida (the Consortium), a coalition of hospitals, nursing schools, health care agencies, and foundations, organizes the Day in the Life of a NurseTM program for high school students interested in pursuing a career as a registered nurse. The goal of the Consortium is to ensure that students see the important work that nurses do and are inspired to adequately prepare themselves for a career in nursing.

The program will take place throughout South Florida on Friday the 14th of November. A total of 72 schools and 42 hospitals in Broward, Hendry, Glades, Miami-Dade, Monroe, and Palm Beach counties will be participating this year

In addition to providing high school students and teachers access to hospital nurse, the program includes presentations and question and answer session. Prior to the event teachers are provided lesson planning guides and curriculum materials that they can use in their classrooms to prepare students for the experience.

Six Upper Keys high school students recently had the opportunity to witness life as a registered nurse at Mariners Hospital.

The students participated in the “Day in the Life of a Nurse” program for students interested in pursuing a career as a registered nurse.

“The students toured the hospital and spent valuable time with our nurses so they could have a better understanding of the patient care provided by nurses every day,” Registered Nurse Terry Leo said in a statement. Leo organized the event at Mariners.

“The day was a great way for the students to get an overview of healthcare and what they must do to prepare themselves for a career in nursing.”

Students participating in the program were Carrie Davis, a senior at Coral Shores High School; Jessica Lankford, a junior at Island Christian School; Island Christian sophomore Allison Panek; Island Christian sophomore Kaelin Mearns; Coral Shores senior Erica Mora; and Coral Shores senior Carla Rubalcava.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 17th, 2008 at 8:56 am and is filed under Nursing Shortage. Tags: health care agencies, hospital nurse, nursing consortium, Registered Nurse. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.