Nursing Exploration Week
was the brainchild of Professor Margaret “Peggy” Campbell,
a double SON alumna who served the School as an associate professor
for over 20 years before retiring in 1999. She witnessed firsthand
how the nursing shortage of the late ’80s affected the profession
and the quality of patient care. One of the most sensible ways to
fight the shortage, Campbell thought, was to encourage more young
people to enter the profession. She thought that creating a program
that introduced high school students to nursing while they were
still making decisions about their career paths would be a good
recruitment tool.
The
program she created served 36 high school students from across the
state who were interested in healthcare careers. For one week each
summer, the chosen participants came to the Carolina campus to live
in a college-like setting and shadow individual nurse mentors at
different health care centers around the Triangle.Each day the students
went to a different hospital department or clinic, following nurses
on their rounds of caring for patients. Students observed practice
in a variety of settings: tertiary care medical centers; large regional,
community and federal hospitals; critical and acute care departments;
outpatient clinics; administration; rehabilitation; geriatric and
pediatric care departments; and military nursing facilities. Students
could expect to see a baby born and open-heart surgery performed
all in the same day.
Campbell led the program from its inception in 1989, when it started
as a day camp, until 2001. The program saw many advances over those
13 years, eventually becoming a residential program and recruiting
nearly 50% racial and ethnic minority student participation. Campbell
followed the more than 450 students who participated in the program
until they made a school or career choice and found that over 40%
enrolled in nursing programs around the state.
Kathy Moore, director of the Office of Admissions
and Student Services, took over leadership of the program in 2002.
The 36 participants in the 2002 program came from 29 North Carolina
counties, and, upholding the tradition of representing some of the
state's brightest high school students, boasted a 3.6 median grade
point average. They spent July 14-19 following nurses at UNC Hospitals,
Rex Healthcare, the Durham Veteran's Affairs Medical Center and
Durham Technical Community College.
"NEW ...helped me decide that I wanted
to be a nurse."
"This program [enhanced] my vision...
of the field of nursing."
The
program she created served 36 high school students from across the
state who were interested in healthcare careers. For one week each
summer, the chosen participants came to the Carolina campus to live
in a college-like setting and shadow individual nurse mentors at
different health care centers around the Triangle.Each day the students
went to a different hospital department or clinic, following nurses
on their rounds of caring for patients. Students observed practice
in a variety of settings: tertiary care medical centers; large regional,
community and federal hospitals; critical and acute care departments;
outpatient clinics; administration; rehabilitation; geriatric and
pediatric care departments; and military nursing facilities. Students
could expect to see a baby born and open-heart surgery performed
all in the same day.
Kathy Moore, director of the Office of Admissions
and Student Services, took over leadership of the program in 2002.
The 36 participants in the 2002 program came from 29 North Carolina
counties, and, upholding the tradition of representing some of the
state's brightest high school students, boasted a 3.6 median grade
point average. They spent July 14-19 following nurses at UNC Hospitals,
Rex Healthcare, the Durham Veteran's Affairs Medical Center and
Durham Technical Community College.