WVU Nursing faculty members showcase their profession at Mountaineer Middle Career Day
Pictured from left, Dr. Beth Minchau, Dr. Ann Hendrickson and Dr. Heather Carter-Templeton recently represented the WVU School of Nursing at the Mountaineer Middle School Career Day.
Three WVU School of Nursing faculty members attended the Mountaineer Middle School’s Career Day to showcase their profession and encourage the students to consider nursing as a career.
Held March 17, the event welcomed sixth, seventh and eighth grade students to explore future career opportunities. Dr. Ann Hendrickson, Dr. Beth Minchau, and Dr. Heather Carter-Templeton represented the School of Nursing at the event.
“Seeing the excitement of the kids using our equipment such as the IV demonstration, the suture kit, or the blood pressure cuffs was the best part of the experience for me,” Minchau said. “It was great to see their interest in learning more about nursing skills.”
Hendrickson agreed, noting that she enjoyed sharing her passion with the middle schoolers.
“It was nice to see their eyes light up with the CPR demonstration, too,” Hendrickson said.
Carter-Templeton said middle school is an important time to reach students, as they are beginning to make decisions about their academic futures.
“It is a great time for us, as nurses, to share information about the field to those in their formative years. In fact, research from as early as 2008 (Matutina) tells us that middle school students who were exposed to the idea of nursing as a profession resulted in statistically significant increases in their desire to become or consider becoming a nurse,” Carter-Templeton said.
She said additional research has been done on this topic since 2008. Recently, in 2017, an integrative review conducted by Dr. Williams at Salem State University examined studies that used various recruitment strategies to increase awareness of nursing in middle school students.
“This study revealed that middle school recruitment interventions by nurses increased awareness of the nursing profession. This research also suggested that there is a need for nurse educators to work with teachers and school counselors in their communities to help inform middle school students about the nursing field,” Carter-Templeton said.
Many of the students expressed a genuine interest in the nursing field. Carter-Templeton also shared her gratitude to the teachers and counselors who helped guide the students and encouraged them to ask meaningful questions.
She said she found the experience mutually beneficial — the students can learn about nursing, and the faculty can learn more about the potential students.
“These experiences can help us gain insight into what the next generation of our workforce values and what they perceive an ideal career to be, often resulting in targeted marketing plans and helping us consider what changes might be needed in our workplaces to continue attracting new recruits to our field. These types of activities can also assist in diversifying our workforce, a call that was shared through the Institute of Medicine’s Future of Nursing 2020-2030 report, as well as working to combat the nursing shortage we are likely to continue to experience.”
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CONTACT: Wendy Holdren
Director of Communications and Marketing
WVU School of Nursing
304-581-1772; wendy.holdren@hsc.wvu.edu