April 19, 2016
Two Ursuline nursing students, Edgar Paul Beasley and Ian Kinnaird were recently awarded the highly selective Assuring Success with a Commitment to Enhance Nursing Diversity (ASCEND) Program Scholarship from Akron Children's Hospital.
“We in the Breen School of Nursing are very proud of our nursing students that have received this prestigious award,” said Patricia Sharpnack, Ursuline’s Dean of the Breen School of Nursing.
ASCEND is a10-week paid summer internship program for nursing students that aims to promote diversity in the working nurse force. The Program provides unique professional development opportunities, hands-on nursing skills and the potential for future employment in a pediatric hospital setting. Clinical practice experiences with a mentor, on up to two different pediatric units. They will learn from professional enrichment experiences such as: Hands on nurse-related activities using case studies and simulation lab experiences. Topics include: professionalism, priority setting, exploring nurse roles in pediatric health care, communication skills, teamwork, delegation, use of clinical practice policies, family centered care delivery model, nurse sensitive indicators, cultural competence, interview skills, resume development.
The idea behind the program is to potentially hire these students into the hospital’s nurse tech program should there be a fit at the end of their internships and as a way to springboard their nursing career.
“The ASCEND program gives us the opportunity to get to know them and them the opportunity to get to know us and see if we are a good fit for each other,” said Nancy Mosca, director of nursing professional practice at Akron Children's Hospital. “The nurse tech program was originally created due to a nursing shortage. We don’t have that problem anymore, but diversifying our nursing staff remains a priority for the hospital.”
Students are expected to work three, 12-hours shifts and also participate in 4-hour professional development days every week for 10 weeks.
“Students are assigned a mentor to work alongside during their shifts,” Mosca. “This one-on-one mentoring provides clinical practice experiences on up to 2 different pediatric units.”
