Nurse employers throughout the State of Florida report nurse shortages similar to those experienced throughout the country, and the increased demand for nursing services projected for the coming two decades as Baby Boomers age will be greatest in states like Florida that attract large numbers of retirees. Florida’s very diverse population of multi-lingual and multi-cultural residents requires a degree of diversity in its nursing workforce that is rare in other markets. So, it is especially important that Florida grow its own nurse workforce.
Surveys show that middle and high school students in the US are not well informed of the wide range of career opportunities available to those who pursue a career in nursing. Many report that they do not know a nurse. Most have little knowledge of the educational pathways to becoming a nurse, or the attributes that great nurses have in common. Providing unique programming that informs high school and middle school students about the nursing profession has been a major focus of the Nursing Consortium of Florida for more than two decades.
Each Fall, the Nursing Consortium of Florida’s Youth Initiatives committee organizes the Day in the Life of a Nurse™ program to introduce the benefits of becoming a nurse to middle and high school students and inform them of the range of educational opportunities available to those wishing to become a nurse.
The in-person Day in the Life of a Nurse™ program consists of a structured one-day shadowing experience with a companion curriculum, and a best practices tool kit for host facilities that includes model schedules and standardized student forms. In 2020, rather than canceling the program due to COVID-19 lockdowns, a two-week-long virtual experience, which included interactive and curated video content for teachers to use in virtual classroom settings, was created. Since annual demand for the yearly field trips to host hospitals and schools of nursing exceeds capacity, the virtual Day in the Life of a Nurse™ program continues to be used to expand the program’s reach.
Students participating in either the in-person or virtual experience are surveyed before and after their program experience. The Day in the Life of a Nurse™ program can be made available to any Florida county public school system that has local Nursing Consortium of Florida member hospitals and schools of nursing. The Youth Initiatives committee is also developing model nursing summer camps to help member nursing schools engage interested high school students with the support of member hospitals.
Introducing Day in the Life of a Nurse™ to additional Florida school districts is a Nursing Consortium of Florida priority.
The Nursing Consortium of Florida is nursing’s community table where the profession’s leaders build on a long legacy of uncommon collaboration, to conduct effective youth outreach and develop and evolve programming that promotes careers in nursing.
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