University Medical Center recently "graduated" student nurse externs (SNE) from a special program that was created to train and further develop the skills of fifth-semester nursing students who will graduate in December 1998. This program is part of a UMC externship program with the UA College of Nursing.
The SNE program was the "brainchild" of Marty Enriquez, R.N., M.S., vice president of Patient Care Services at UMC who first thought of it as a possible solution for attracting top-quality UA nursing students who after graduating and becoming licensed RNs could, in turn, help address a nursing shortage at UMC.
To make this idea a reality, UMC approached Roxanne Moutafis, M.S., R.N.C., lecturer at the UA College of Nursing, and asked her to become the SNE program coordinator and educator. In addition to successfully implementing the program, Moutafis developed its curriculum and helped match students to UMC preceptors.
For 10 weeks, UA senior baccalaureate nursing students in this program had the opportunity to practice and perform in an expanded student nursing role that allowed them to apply their current nursing knowledge and skills in a supportive, supervised learning environment. The SNEs worked the same schedule as their matched preceptors for the duration of the program and received a salary.
SNEs were placed in UMC's neonatal intensive care unit, pediatric intensive care unit and several medical/surgical units, including orthopedics/neurology (6E), transplantation (5E), urology and gynecology (3NE). Students indicated their own areas of interest and completed an interview process before starting.
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