Nurses begin clinical coursework with stethoscope ceremony
Kim Chaudoin |
The Nursing Class of 2010 officially began its transition to clinical coursework with today’s stethoscope ceremony.
Twenty-eight nursing majors who have completed their first two years of science studies at Lipscomb and are ready to begin clinical coursework at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing received stethoscopes at the ceremony. Stethoscopes symbolize a nurse’s commitment to care for his patients’ health while also caring about the patient as a person.
“I want you to use this as a listening tool,” Leanne Busby, interim director of the Lipscomb/Vanderbilt Nursing Partnership Program, told the nursing students during the ceremony.
“But, more importantly I want you listen with your ears and with your touch. Nurses have the opportunity to be with people at the most intimate times of their lives. They’re with them at the birth of their children and with people when they’re diagnosed with life threatening diseases. Welcome to this wonderful profession.”
The student nurses will begin clinical coursework at Vanderbilt this month. This is the fourth group to proceed through the Lipscomb/Vanderbilt Nursing Partnership to earn a bachelor’s in nursing. In May 2008, Lipscomb graduated its second class of 31 nurses.
The Lipscomb/Vanderbilt Nursing Partnership is an innovative partnership allowing Lipscomb to offer a faith-based bachelor of science in nursing degree with clinical studies provided by Vanderbilt. Students take their first five semesters of foundational nursing courses at Lipscomb and three semesters of clinical courses at Vanderbilt.
The partnership began in December 2003. Noticing a growing shortage of bachelor’s degree nurses in the Nashville community, Lipscomb officials launched the nursing partnership as a way to help alleviate the nursing shortage. The partnership has so far infused the Nashville health care field with almost 60 nurses, as the majority of the Lipscomb nursing graduates have signed on to work at Vanderbilt University Medical Center for at least two years after graduation.
Of the 2008 nursing class, 100 percent passed their licensure exam on the first try and are now registered with the Tennessee Board of Nursing. Following on the heels of the exciting NCLEX pass rate, the innovative program was approved by the Tennessee Board of Nursing in September 2008. The program is in pre-candidate status for national accreditation and will be considered for full national accreditation in February.
The stethoscope ceremony is often used to initiate nursing students into their first clinical experiences. Nursing students are required to have stethoscopes, and Lipscomb decided to provide our students with new ones to symbolize their positive goals as they go into clinical coursework.