Content provided in partnership with

Health Care Industry

Recruiting nursing students: you can help

AORN Journal, Nov, 2003 by Nathalie F. Walker

AORN's new chapter award, Promoting Perioperative Nursing at the High School Level, is designed to encourage grassroots efforts to attract high school students to careers in perioperative nursing. AORN members should strive to convey a positive image of professional nursing and promote nursing careers through education, counseling, and public presentations by communicating the challenges, rewards, and diversity of our profession.

The message

Nursing is a scientific profession directed toward caring for healthy and ill individuals who have physical, emotional, psychological, intellectual, social, and spiritual needs. The focus of the RN is determined by the career path selected and depends on the nurse's work setting, education, and experience. The career paths in nursing are clinician, educator, researcher, and administrator.

Most Popular Articles in Health: Fuel your workout: exercisers who eat before they work out have more energy ...; Soothe a dry, itchy scalp: 5 easy expert solutions; Cocktails and calories: Beer, wine and liquor calories can really add up. ...; The sour truth about apple cider vinegar - evaluation of therapeutic use; The, six best supplements you've never heard of: these secret weapons can ...; More »

There are many options within the single career of nursing. Once you earn the title of RN, opportunities in several specialties are available. The diversity is extensive.

Nursing is the largest health care profession in the United States, with 2.6 million RNs in the nation. Nursing is called upon to help provide services for a variety of reasons:

* advances in medical technology often require highly specialized nurses to care for patients,

* more people are learning about health promotion (healthy habits to prevent illness) that requires the assistance of nurses, and

* people are living longer requiring health services for a longer time.

Nursing is a career with unlimited opportunities, ranging from caring for the very old to the newborn, in settings with high technology like hospital critical care units, and in settings that provide outpatient services like clinics. Nurses care for patients 24 hours a day and carry out a plan of care for each patient. They consult with physicians and other health care team members and possess a variety of skills like knowing how to change dressings, take blood pressure, give injections, and work with complex monitors and equipment. They also teach patients and families about health conditions and provide them with emotional support.

Nursing offers more than 50 different specialties and a variety of settings in which to worm perioperative nursing is one of those specialties.

Grassroots programs can be an effective way to encourage young people to consider nursing as a profession. Remember: It takes a RN to be a perioperative nurse, so don't limit your program to our specialty only. Think globally!

Goals of program

* Reflect a positive image of nursing to the public.

* Recruit a diverse student body reflective of the regional population.

* Attract students into nursing who have demonstrated those potential academic abilities that will lead to a successful career in nursing.

As a nurse, you can make a difference--both in your life and the lives of others. Nursing is one of the most challenging and rewarding careers a person can choose to pursue.

For more details on the chapter award, visit http://www.aorn.org/chapters/ awardshighschool.htm. The deadline to apply for this new AORN chapter award is Jan 3, 2004. Start now and share your passion for nursing with a nurse of the future--a high school student.

Ideas for Recruitment Activities

* Disseminate information about nursing as a dynamic profession.

* Discuss the varied roles of the registered nurse.

* Share information on educational programs that lead to a degree in nursing.

* Let students observe the role of an RN in a clinical setting.

Nathalie F. Walker, RN, BS, MBA, CNOR

Board liaison

Task Force on Perioperative Nursing:

Introduction at the High School Level

Health Care Industry

Recruiting nursing students: you can help

AORN Journal, Nov, 2003 by Nathalie F. Walker

Find Research Guides for:

Find Featured Titles for: Health

Most Popular Articles in Health

Most Popular Publications in Health