Dressed in powder-blue scrubs and green Crocs, Gina Parker looks and acts like the ideal registered nurse. She is friendly and sincere, confident and soothing.
One would never guess she graduated from Allan Hancock College’s Registered Nursing Program a little more than a month ago. But Parker isn’t hiding her rookie status—she’s wearing it like a badge of honor.
While tending to new mom Christine Rincon and her newborn, Isabella, Parker jubilantly discusses the college’s joint nursing program with Marian Medical Center. A local certified nursing assistant, Rincon is eager to learn as much as she can since she hopes to be in Parker’s place some day soon.
“I’m on the waiting list for Hancock’s [Licensed Vocational Nursing] program,” Rincon says as she strokes Isabella’s thick, black hair. “I’m hoping to get started as soon as possible.”
Rincon isn’t the only one. For years, Allan Hancock College’s nursing programs have been in high demand. The college offers three: one for certified nursing assistant, one for licensed vocational nursing, and one for registered nursing.
To become full-fledged registered nurses, students have to pass the California Board of Registered Nursing exam. Parker, who is scheduled to take the exam next month, said she feels well prepared.
“The program gives you all the tools to be successful in the nursing world,” she said. “It’s prepared me to be a better nurse.”
The registered nursing program runs for two semesters, starting every spring at the college. Students must be licensed vocational nurses and graduates from accredited vocational nursing programs to qualify for Allan Hancock’s program.
Registered Nursing Program Director Daphne Boatright said the LVN requirement is “a great advantage because we know they’re strong RN candidates. They’re clinically prepared and they come from a strong program.”
Compared to the LVN program, she said, the RN program is much more hands on, allowing students to get medical experience in the lab and out in the community.
Before Parker began working in Marian’s labor and delivery unit, she worked at the hospital for three and a half years as a scrub technician. The position gave her practical nursing experience she could draw on during her time in the program.
Fellow December graduate Michelle Stone also worked at Marian as a medical-surgical nurse during her time in the program. The job was part of an employee retention program run by the hospital, which matches the students’ hours and pay 50-50. In exchange, the students agree to stay on with Marian for two years after they graduate.
“Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to make it through the program,” Stone said.
Approximately half of the program’s 40 graduates worked either part- or full-time at the hospital while in school. And all of them were required to complete a “preceptorship” before graduating. Similar to internships, preceptorships allow students to shadow professionals in the medical field for up to 12 weeks, depending on the specialty.
For her preceptorship, Stone spent several weeks shadowing employees at Santa Barbara County Crisis and Recovery Emergency Services, which provides emergency mental health services to hospital patients and people in the community.
Stone said the Allan Hancock nursing program and her experience with the organization have made her a better nurse.
“I know how to better approach patients and get them the help they need, the help that they might have refused otherwise,” she said, adding that she doesn’t reserve such skills solely for emergency situations.
Nursing faculty members, including program director Boatright, teach Jean Watson’s Theory of Caring, developed by a longtime nurse and founder of the Center for Human Caring. The theory states that “in order to care for others, we have to know how to care for ourselves,” Boatright explained.
Students in the program are taught that self-care—exercising, getting enough sleep, and eating well—is just as important as knowing the necessary medical facts and procedures.
“The role of a nurse is very important,” Boatright said. “A nurse is looked at as a collaborator, as a leader, as an independent thinker, and as a problem solver.” m
Contact Staff Writer Amy Asman at aasman@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jan 22-29, 2009.
