October/November 2015 Issue - Jessica Getto

NCANS Newsletter
October/November 2015
THE HYPODERMIC
A publication of the North Carolina Association of Nursing Students
2015-2016 NCANS Board of Directors
2015-2016 NCANS Board
2015-2016 NCANS
Board of Directors
President: Mallory Byrum
Vice President: Chelsea Daley
Secretary: Allison Bowman
Treasurer: Tracie Faircloth
District Representatives:
Ebony Scott, Chandra Damron
Breakthrough to Nursing
Director: Morgan Ross
Legislative Director: Madison
Kennemur
Publications Director: Jessica
Getto-Rivait
Events Calendar
NCANS Annual Convention
(Raleigh, NC): February 26-28,
2016
National Day of Volunteer
Service: April 16, 2016
Front row (left to right): Madison Kennemur; Allison Bowman; Chandra
Damron; Mallory Byrum; Chelsea Daley. Back row (left to right): Tracie
Faircloth; Jessica Getto-Rivait; Evelyn Hoover (NCANS Advisor); Frank
Moore (NCANS Advisor). Not pictured: Ebony Scott; Morgan Ross.
Editor’s Introduction
You’ve heard about your program’s nursing student organization.
You’ve probably heard about the National Student Nurses’
Association (NSNA). If you’re a member of either of these
organizations, chances are that you’re a member of the North
Carolina Association of Nursing Students or--as we like to call
ourselves--NCANS. When you sign up for a yearly membership
to NSNA (for a nominal $40 fee), you automatically receive a
membership to your program’s NSNA-affiliated nursing
association and to NCANS.
NCANS may be new to you, but it has been around since 1949.
Back then, the North Carolina Nurses’ Association (NCNA)
coordinated efforts to create NCANS due to interest in helping
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October/November 2015
Editor’s Introduction Cont’d
students professionalize by taking leadership roles before they graduated from school. NCNA has been
and continues to be a strong supporter of NCANS. Our monthly board meetings are held in NCNA
headquarters in Raleigh, and NCNA members officially mentor NCANS board members every year. This
school year, we are lucky enough to have two NCNA mentors: Mr. Frank Moore and Ms. Evelyn Hoover.
But why does NCANS need support? And how and why should you support NCANS? NCANS supports
NSNA-affiliated organizations at your school problem-solve issues such as improving and diversifying
student recruitment. Because of the nature of nursing school and unique student backgrounds (such as
parenthood) and needs (to work a part-time job to make ends meet), students may not think that they
have the time or money to become involved in a professional student organization. NCANS provides
local nursing student organizations with strategies for overcoming these obstacles.
Besides aiding local nursing student organizations with problem-solving, NCANS connects individual
members with valuable information and professional opportunities. Through NCNA and our legislative
director, we keep a pulse on political happenings in Raleigh that directly impact health care laws in North
Carolina. NCANS also hosts an annual winter conference that allows students to learn more about the
latest health care issues; meet with potential employers of new nursing school graduates; and participate
in mini-NCLEX review sessions.
In short, NCANS has a lot to offer. We hope that you engage with us this year through this newsletter,
social media, our website, and attending our annual conference. It is our hope that you decide to become
even more involved as a newsletter article contributor or a presenter at our annual conference. In what
follows, you’ll have a chance to learn more about us---the 2015 to 2016 NCANS board members---and why
we have chosen to commit to NCANS. You’ll also have an opportunity to peruse our first Resource
Spotlight article, which focuses on finding a nursing externship in NC.
Cheers to the New Year!
Jessica Getto-Rivait
2015-2016 Publications Director, NCANS
Board Member Biographies
Mallory Byrum, President
I'm a third semester student in East Carolina University's BSN
program. I really enjoy high-intensity situations, and would like to
work in an Emergency Department setting. I love being involved
with different things, and thrive on the challenge of making
organizations the best they can be. I want to accomplish so much as
President of NCANS, and hope to make a lasting impact across our entire state.
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Board Member Biographies Cont’d
Chelsea Daley, Vice President, District 1 Representative
I am a second semester student in East Carolina University’s College
of Nursing. I want to be a nurse so that I can help all kinds of
patients with all kinds of ailments. I decided to serve on the
NCANS board because I want to be a part of an organization that
reaches students. I love that this organization is for helping nursing students and that I have the potential
to help those students succeed.
Allison Bowman, Secretary
My name is Allison Bowman, and I'm a fourth semester BSN
student at University of North Carolina at Wilmington. I would love
to work in either the Emergency department of the Surgical- trauma
intensive care unit because I love the chaos of the environments and
the gore of traumas. Nursing is an art that is very important to me. I
love doing anything possible to advocate for the nursing profession,
and that is what I hope to accomplish as the NCANS secretary.
Tracie Faircloth, Treasurer, District 2 Representative
I am in my fourth semester at Stanly Community College. When I
started my nursing journey, I was sure I wanted to be a hospice
nurse; but as I learn more, I find that there are many other areas in
the field of Nursing that interest me. I enjoy working actively with
NCANS because it allows me to learn more about this association
and its purpose. I look forward to working with all the NCANS
board members to make this the best year yet.
Ebony Scott, District 4 Representative
I am a senior in my fourth semester at Edgecombe Community
College in Tarboro, NC. I currently work as a nursing assistant in an
emergency department of a local hospital, and want to ultimately
work with mothers and children in a public health setting. I think
that being a nurse means caring for people from their most basic
human needs to their most complex and critical needs. I can not
think of a profession that is more holistic and nurturing than nursing. I joined the NCANS board to be a
voice among my fellow students.
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NCANS Newsletter
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Board Member Biographies Cont’d
Chandra Damron, District 3 Representative, District 5
Representative
I am a 2015 ADN graduate from Fayetteville Technical Community
College. As a Registered Nurse, I am working as a member of the
Stroke Unit in Cape Fear Valley Health System. My husband's name
is Bart, and I have three children: Warren, Breanna, and Karra.
Currently, I am taking online classes towards earning my Bachelor’s degree in Nursing. My goal is to
positively impact the field of Nursing by being proactive in its advancement, and be a role model for both
practicing and student nurses.
Morgan Ross, Breakthrough to Nursing Director
I am a fourth semester student in Pitt Community College’s ADN
program, and a former nursing assistant for the North Carolina
State Veterans home in Kinston, NC. Upon graduation, I hope to
accept a nursing position on a floor that caters to the geriatric
population in the hospital setting. As the Breakthrough to Nursing
Committee Chairperson for PCC’s Association of Nursing Students,
I conduct outreaching events to ignite interest in potential students
to go into the field of Nursing. I am excited to help further the collaboration between local student
nursing associations and health related organizations at the state level through my position with NCANS.
Madison Kennemur, Legislative Director
I graduated from East Carolina University with my BSN. in May
2015. I currently work on an adult medical-surgical unit. I am
passionate about community health and nursing research. I enjoy
talking with students about the nursing profession and attending
conferences.
Jessica Getto-Rivait, Publications Director
I am a second semester student in East Carolina University's BSN
program and a home health aide. I am passionate about community
and public health nursing and hope to work in that area throughout
my career as a nurse. I hope to put my career experiences as a writer
and editor to good use this year in my position as the NCANS
Publications Director.
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NCANS Newsletter
October/November 2015
Resource Spotlight: How to Find an Externship in NC
While academic competition and rank still remains important to students in nursing school, many
nursing students are more concerned about the next stage of competition: the nursing job market. There
are plenty of resources (including books, articles, and Youtube videos) about how to generally succeed in
the nursing job market—regardless of location. Although not all of us are location-bound in our search for
entry-level nursing jobs, quite a few of us do want to find employment in the State of North Carolina.
Because of this common goal, we at The Hypodermic have decided to dedicate one article per issue toward
aiding NC students in finding local opportunities to professionalize. The name of this series will be
“Resource Spotlight.”
This “Resource Spotlight” article is dedicated to the topic of nursing externships. Nursing externships, in
many ways, are akin to college internships: they are free and paid opportunities for students to gain
valuable work experience with an employer. Why do healthcare organizations use the term “externship”
instead of “internship” to refer to these experiences for students? Some healthcare organizations use the
term “internship” to refer to mentored opportunities for new graduate nurses. The term “externship”
exclusively refers to mentoring experiences for healthcare students, such as nurses. However, some
healthcare organizations do use the term “internship” in the same way that other health organizations use
the term “externship”: therefore, as you are perusing the websites of local hospitals and healthcare
organizations, make sure to search for both terms.
Why bother locating or landing an externship or an internship in nursing? Aren’t nursing instructors
correct to tell nursing students to consider clinical experiences as a series of job interviews? Clinical
experiences are an invaluable way to network with possible future employers. But they often are
restrictive in the amount of time allowed in a site; the types of skills that can be performed; and the
ability to spend valuable one-on-one time with a nurse. Externships allow nursing students to closely
shadow a nurse 40 hours a week for two to three months and to perform skills that they are not allowed
to perform during clinical assignments.
Externships are generally competitive. Applications generally require a transcript, letters of support from
clinical instructors, and a statement of interest in the externship. Applications are generally due from
November through February. In other words, this is the time for us as nursing students to be investigating
externships, to be gathering recommendations from our clinical instructors, and preparing to submit our
applications for externships. To aid you in the process, here are a few externship programs in NC to
which you should consider applying:
• Cone Healthcare Nurse Extern Program (http://www.conehealth.com/healthcare-professionals/
nursing/nurse-extern-program/)
• Duke Medicine’s Professional Nurse Assistant Summer Externship Program (http://
www.dukenursing.org/new-graduates/pna-summer-externship)
• UNC Rex Healthcare’s Nursing Externship Program (http://www.rexhealth.com/rh/careers/newgraduate-residency-programs/nursing-externship-program/)
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