UNLV nurse camp gets bigger each year

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) - High school students are opening their eyes to the profession of nursing, UNLV School of Nursing is hosting their biggest summer camp yet.

This month, UNLV School of Nursing is hosting their third annual nurse camp.

Three one week sessions include 20-25 high school juniors, seniors and recent graduates that have traveled from all over the country to participate.

Jennifer Pfannes is the camp coordinator.

“We have campers here from California today, one from Pennsylvania. They came here because they never heard of a nurse camp where they live and so I don’t think it’s a common outreach,” Pfannes said.

Kimaria Samuel came all the way from Pittsburgh.

“It encouraged me a lot- like it made me want to be more open to just doing more stuff related to this,” Samuel said.

Pfannes said the camp was created in 2019. The thought behind it was to capture the interest at an earlier age.

“We can make a difference in teaching them about nursing. Talking to them about all aspects of nursing from school to the profession to personal lives- it’s to see them smile to see them have fun,” Pfannes said.

Responding to COVID-19 has changed education in nursing. Joseph Gaccione, a spokesperson for UNLV School of Nursing, said educators added new modules on infection control basics, vaccinations and immune responses.

Angela Silvestri-Elmore, professor and lead for the traditional Bachelor of Science in Nursing program released this statement:

Nursing education began making necessary shifts to bridge the theory to practice gap before the pandemic. Now more than 2.5 years later, we are recognizing how necessary it is to collaborate with our clinical partners to prepare practice ready nurses that are well socialized into their roles as nurses. Nurse educators are making strides in using new teaching and evaluation strategies focused on not just knowledge, but also role competency. Rather than lecturing from PowerPoints, we are creating and teaching from authentic clinical scenarios, focusing on critical thinking, clinical judgment, decision making, and nursing skill proficiency. Since nursing students were temporarily suspended from direct patient care clinicals for several months during the lockdown, nurse educators have shown their agility in using other methods to meet the outcomes by focusing on developing thinking, and we have held on to many of these approaches.
Angela Silvestri-Elmore

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