A 7:30 a.m. shift for the sake of practice and patient care

During his pediatrics clinical, Nursing senior Colin Plover discovered that hiding the needle is an important tactic when giving a child a shot.

Like Plover, all Nursing students need to fulfill a specific number of hours of patient-care clinicals in order to graduate, helping them gain hands-on experience.

While a sophomore is required to complete four hours a week of clinicals, this requirement increases to 12 hours a week for juniors and 16 hours a week for seniors.

"Clinical experience is absolutely an integral aspect of our curriculum. Students not only need clinical competencies but have to integrate clinical judgment with theoretical knowledge," said Nursing Dean Afaf Meleis.

"Students must deal with human beings after they are fully comfortable with the science," she added.

During patient-care clinicals, students take the role of nurses and check patients' blood glucose levels, insulin doses, blood pressure and heart beat. They also monitor the lungs to check for infections, Plover said.

In order to complete their required hours, students go to a number of health-care centers around Philadelphia, including the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Paoli Hospital and the Pennsylvania Hospital.

Clinicals can start as early as 7:30 a.m. and last for six to eight hours each, depending upon the year of the student.

During their junior year Nursing students complete pediatrics, obstetrics and geriatric clinicals and during senior year, their clinicals focus on psychology and community building. The clinicals are all completed in groups of eight with one faculty advisor.

Students also receive the opportunity to work independently during their last semester at Penn as part of the senior leadership program, through which students can take on an entire section of the patient-care facility on their own.

"We also do a lot of education. We educate them about their diseases, their medication and their eating habits," he added.

This summer the Nursing School started allowing students to complete clinical requirements in Penn programs abroad, such as Penn In Botswana.

Nursing senior Yana Sigal said her experience in Botswana was "just too fabulous to put in words."

Unlike the U.S., where she works with senior doctors and nurses at hospitals, Sigal said that in Botswana she had to think on her feet and make her own clinical decisions.

Sigal added that clinicals were "the most important part of [her] education".

"Because of their Penn Nursing education and the quality of our clinical teaching, our graduates accept positions and excel in the top clinical practice settings nationwide," said Associate Dean for Academic Programs Kathleen McCauley.

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