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The Nursing Consortium of Florida, a non-profit coalition of hospitals, nursing schools, hospice service providers, and health care staffing organizations, is conducting the Day in the Life of a Nurse™ program for the 23rd year tomorrow. On Thursday, the 16th of November in partnership with South Florida public school districts and a number of private high schools, a total of fifty-nine South Florida host facilities and sixty schools will collaborate to make unique in-person experiences possible for the more than 1,300 students that will take part in the Day in the Life of a Nurse™ program.
“We are delighted that so many hospitals and schools of nursing from Marathon to Loxahatchee offered to host student groups for in person experiences! This year’s 54% increase in host locations is not a surprise. There are many employment opportunities available for newly licensed nurses. 85% more students are being accommodated in 2023 for in-person experiences compared to last year.” remarked Ralph Egües, Executive Director of the Nursing Consortium of Florida. “This program provides students with a unique opportunity to shadow registered nurses and learn about this truly rewarding career. Our collective goal is to inspire students to pursue a career in nursing by providing them a glimpse of the important and varied work that nurses do” noted Shannon Odell, Chief Nursing Officer at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital and program co-chair. “We work closely with the public school system administrators, provide curriculum material to help teachers introduce nursing topics into their lessons and reinforce student experiences, and since 2020 we have added a virtual program with curated video content; some of which is interactive, for teachers to share with students not able to participate in in –person experiences this year,” added Shawn Higgins, Dean of Nursing at the Arizona College of Nursing Fort Lauderdale campus and program co-chair.
In most instances, students participating in the in-person one-day program take part in various activities including nurse led tours of hospital departments. This experience allows students to spend time with a nurse and ask them individual questions about their profession, their challenges, and their nursing stories. Students also typically meet and hear from nurse educators, information systems nurses, nurse researchers, and nurse administrators. In addition to shadowing staff nurses and listening to various presentations, student experiences can include learning to take a person’s blood pressure and pulse, listening to their heart beat through a stethoscope, scrubbing in and dressing out in surgical attire, touring a surgical room where they may handle high tech equipment, and spending time in skills labs and simulation suites typically used for nurse education and testing.
“In order to accommodate growing interest in the program, some student groups visit college campuses rather than hospitals. There they spend time with faculty and nursing students and interact with patient simulators and other educational tools, and learn about admissions requirements and the application process. We are so pleased to have the students come in and spend time with area nurses. Each can be an inspiration to the other,” remarked Carol Clarke, Associate Dean, Nursing at Palm Beach State College and program co-chair.
Former program participants are now nurses in various South Florida hospitals. Of course, not every program participant discovers a calling to become a nurse, but it is important that young people gain a better understanding of the many career opportunities within the nursing profession, the academic requirements for pursuing a nursing education, and the attributes common to successful nurses including compassion, common sense, the ability to handle stress and maintain composure under difficult circumstances, a pleasant and affable personality, a passion for life-long learning, the ability to work in teams effectively, and strong communication skills.”
The COVID pandemic, accelerated the retirement of older nurses and in other ways contributed to an increase in hospital vacancies. Initiatives such as Day in the Life of a Nurse™ are important to ensuring that the current nurse shortage can be sooner alleviated. With such a great number of employment opportunities on the horizon, Day in the Life of a Nurse™ provides South Florida middle and high school students an up close and personal experience to the world of nursing. In addition to the adverse impact on quality of care and patient satisfaction resulting from nurse shortages, local and state economies are adversely impacted by vacant nurse positions. Nowhere in the state is health care more important than in South Florida where the health care sector is the third largest source of jobs behind the tourism and the public sectors.
“Having an ample and high quality nurse workforce is not only key to our ability to care for a growing number of seniors in our population, but also key to the region’s ability to continue to grow as a health care destination in this era of greater transparency that includes published standardized health outcomes and patient satisfaction measures that facilitate the comparison of health care facilities across the country. Day in the Life of a Nurse™ and other Consortium initiatives not only contribute to the Florida’s future physical and mental well being, it has a real impact on our economic vitality as well,” noted Jean Seaver, President of the Nursing Consortium of Florida and Associate Vice President of Learning & Development at Broward Health.
Host locations for Day in the Life of a Nurse™ 2023 include:
Arizona College of Nursing
Baptist Hospital of Miami
Barry University
Bethesda Hospital East/ Baptist Health South Florida
Bethesda Hospital West/ Baptist Health South Florida
Boca Raton Regional Hospital
Broward Health Coral Springs
Broward Health Imperial Point
Broward Health Medical Center
Broward Health North
Chamberlain College of Nursing
Cleveland Clinic Weston
Cross Country Healthcare
Delray Medical Center
Doctors Hospital
Fishermen’s Hospital
FVI School of Nursing and Technology
Good Samaritan Medical Center
HCA Florida Aventura Hospital
HCA Florida JFK Hospital
HCA Florida JFK Hospital North
HCA Florida Kendall Hospital
HCA Florida Mercy Hospital
HCA Florida Northwest Hospital
HCA Florida Palms West Hospital
HCA Florida Westside Hospital
HCA Florida Woodmont Hospital
Homestead Hospital
Jackson Memorial Hospital
Jackson Memorial Hospital
Jackson North Medical Center
Jackson South Medical Center
Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital
Keiser University – Flagship Campus
Mariners Hospital
Memorial Hospital Miramar
Memorial Hospital Pembroke
Memorial Hospital West
Memorial Regional Hospital
Memorial Regional Hospital South
Miami Cancer Institute
Miami Dade College
Mount Sinai Medical Center
Nicklaus Children’s Hospital
Nova Southeastern University Davie Campus
Nova Southeastern University Davie Campus
Nova Southeastern University Kendall Campus
Palm Beach State College
South Miami Hospital
St. Mary’s Medical Center
Trustbridge
University of Miami Hospital Tower
University of Miami School of Nursing and Health Studies
VITAS Healthcare Corporation
Wellington Regional Medical Center
West Boca Medical Center
West Coast University
West Kendall Baptist Hospital
About the Nursing Consortium of Florida
The Nursing Consortium of Florida, founded in 1997, is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit corporation whose strength lies in being the nexus for collaboration by the nurse leaders of its member organizations; the leading hospitals, nursing schools, and other employers of nurses. The Consortium’s mission is to identify and address factors causing a nursing shortage and identifying and addressing opportunities to strengthen the region’s nursing workforce. The Consortium unites nursing practice and education from across the region to address the area’s need for culturally and technically competent nurses, by cultivating interest in nursing careers, by advocating for the interests of the profession, and by improving the public’s understanding of nursing concerns and the perception of the nursing profession. For more information on the Nursing Consortium of Florida please go to www.nursingconsortium.us or contact Ralph Egües, Executive Director, at egues@nursingconsortium.us, 305-669-9644 or 305-216-6425.
