Keyser Campus senior helps educate middle schoolers about blood pressure

During her NSG 411 Community Preceptorship, a West Virginia University School of Nursing student has been educating area middle school students about blood pressure.

Avery Shanholtz, a senior Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) student at the Keyser Campus, has been working with a school nurse and a teacher as part of Project Lead the Way’s curriculum, “Medical Detectives.”

“The students learn basic vital signs, including systolic and diastolic elements of blood pressure,” Shanholtz explained. “They practice taking blood pressure with an automatic cuff and they requested to learn how to take a manual blood pressure.”

Shanholtz said she teaches the students about the mechanisms of a manual blood pressure cuff, the functions of diastolic and systolic pressures, and how to assess blood pressure using a manual cuff.

“The students enjoyed being able to practice, hands-on, their newly taught skill of taking manual blood pressure. They gained a better understanding of what a blood pressure means, along with signs, symptoms, causes and treatment of hypertension and hypotension and were able to explain these back to me.”

She said the experience was mutually beneficial, as she was able to learn classroom management, appropriate teaching skills for the growth and development of 8th grade students, and public speaking.

“Community precepting is an engaging and rewarding experience that diversifies student knowledge and understanding of concepts presented in class by connecting them to interactive, real-life situations with experts in the field,” said Kasey Beckman-Sirk, a clinical education instructor at Keyser.

“It is important for nursing students to have these connections to be able to appreciate that in their future practice, they are serving the people of the community, not just an individual or a specific disease.”