Nursing Students Administer Covid Booster Shots To Assumption Community
On February 10th, the University’s Wellness Center hosted Assumption’s first on-campus COVID-19 Vaccination Booster Clinic in La Maison Francaise, where students from the Froelich School of Nursing helped administer booster shots to students, faculty, and staff. According to Caitlin Stover, RN, PhD, PHCNS-BC, CNE, CNE-cl, Dean and Associate Professor of Nursing, nearly 75 members of the Assumption community received a booster shot at the clinic which was sponsored and organized by the Worcester Department of Public Health.
“It is important for nursing students to be exposed to diverse roles and initiatives,” said Dean Stover. “The opportunity for students to administer an intramuscular injection is rare so I was happy to represent the Froelich School of Nursing and support the Department of Public Health while providing the students with the necessary supervision.”
Five nursing students from the class of 2023 took advantage of the event to volunteer and practice skills they learned in the Clinical Learning Lab to help combat the spread of COVID-19. Prior to the clinic, the student-volunteers underwent comprehensive training on how to properly deliver intramuscular injections on mannequins before applying those skills to visitors to the clinic.
“I was thrilled when I was given the opportunity to participate in a COVID-19 booster clinic,” said Erin Hazelhurst ’23. “I had never administered an intramuscular injection but knew that this would be an amazing way to learn. I spent numerous hours in open lab with the nursing faculty prior to the booster clinic. I left asking Dean Stover when I could volunteer for another vaccine clinic because it was such a great experience. Since the vaccine clinic, I have continued to utilize my injection skills in the clinical setting.”
Nursing students at Assumption study in the brand new, state-of-the-art Catrambone Health Sciences Center. With seven full-sized hospital beds and a simulation lab, faculty can simulate real patient conditions and several healthcare scenarios for students using high-fidelity mannequins.
Students then take their experiential learning a step further with hands-on participation in volunteer events such as the Booster Clinic and clinicals at leading health care systems including UMass Memorial Healthcare.
“Lectures provide us with the knowledge and background about the how and the why,” said Jaclyn Landry ’23. “We learn about the pathophysiology of diseases, medications, and policies and procedures. We take what we know from class and use that information to understand what is going on with our patients in clinical. The clinical experience provides learning beyond the textbook and allows us to practice the skills we learned in class. Having clinical experience is essential in nursing because real-life experiences are very different from what is read in a textbook.”
The Froelich School of Nursing has initial approval from the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Nursing and is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE).