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| Vol. 23, No. 8 |
| May 1, 2001 |
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Program Provides Future Nurses with Wings to Fly By ANGELA COFFMAN Methodist Health Care System While many nursing students are buried in their clinical textbooks at local libraries, 22-year-old Andrea Jaeger spends her time caring for seriously ill patients. Just weeks away from graduation, Jaeger already has more than a year of clinical experience because of an innovative work/study program at The Methodist Hospital. The Methodist Hospital's WINGS Student Professional Nurse Program is a partnership with several Houston-area nursing schools designed to give qualified nursing students maximum clinical exposure in many areas of the hospital, including intensive care units and the emergency department. "I learned just as much in the WINGS Program as I did in many of my clinical classes," Jaeger said. "This program has helped me assimilate into the clinical environment, as well as give me confidence in myself and what I can do for my patients." WINGS participants are teamed with a registered nurse on their unit and work a minimum of 24 hours per month as a salaried SPN, as well as earn credit toward their nursing degree. "Through these activities, SPNs are able to learn various aspects of the health care delivery system beyond that of traditional learning experiences," said Kathy Puperi, nursing innovation specialist at The Methodist Hospital's Center for Professional Excellence. "The WINGS program will enable students to refine their organizational and time management skills as well as their clinical abilities." The WINGS SPN Program targets nursing students completing the first semester of their junior year, so that they will have an opportunity to work as an SPN at The Methodist Hospital for a year and a half before transitioning into the role of a graduate nurse/registered nurse. The Methodist Hospital provides a $500 scholarship to the WINGS SPNs for each semester they are in the program. Upon graduation, the WINGS SPNs are given the opportunity to interview for all available registered nurse positions at The Methodist Hospital for which they are qualified. The retention rate of the WINGS SPNs after graduation is currently 100 percent.
©2006 Texas Medical Center E-Mail: tmcinfo@texmedctr.tmc.edu URL: http://www.tmc.edu/tmcnews/05_01_01/page_14.html |