A First Look at Neuroscience Nursing

The Recruitment and Retention Task Force in the fall launched its “Spend a Day with a Neuroscience Nurse” program to introduce student nurses to this specialty. The program followed a similar successful introduction to Hematologic Oncology nursing in the spring.

During the eight-week program, eight student nurses toured the hospital and followed one of six preceptors for an entire shift to observe care of the neuroscience patient and the unit from the nurse’s perspective. Gina DeShazer, RN, diversity nurse fellow and project organizer said, “We anticipate this early contact will lead to clinical placements for some of the participants.”

Program evaluations by students and preceptors have been strong. “For some of the student nurses, it was their first exposure to the ICU. They learned a lot by getting hands-on time with the technology we use every day,” said 9D preceptor Cathy McKay, RN.

Other preceptors, all from 10CD, included Maureen Gorman, RN; Siobhan Raftery, RN; Claudia McCarthy, RN; Gary McNabb, RN; Mary Nelson, RN; Diane Johnson, RN, and Melissa Coughlin, RN, with the support of Nurse Managers Katie O’Brien, RN, 10CD; Shaun Golden, RN, 9D, and Nurse Educator Heidi Smith, RN. The student nurses who participated in the neuroscience pilot were from UMass-Boston, Curry, Simmons and Salem State colleges.

Simmons graduate Tami Rocchetta said, “This was a unique opportunity to be on the actual unit, to get a close look at the culture and to get a sense of whether I would fit in here.”As proof that the pilot works, Rocchetta just accepted a staff position on 10CD.