Walter Reed Army Institute of Nursing - Pledge Yearbook (Washington, DC)

Page 108 text:

As is every semester at WRAIN, the III A semester is a unique type of experience for the students who are involved with it. It is the academic term when students begin to apply the nursing skills and rationale they have acquired to the acute care setting. Also, during III A, seniors begin to establish the foundation for the manage- ment positions they will hold after graduation, through team leading and other management exercises. The III A semester is a fast-paced and dynamic one for many seniors. It encom- passes a wide variety of nursing care experiences and is a time for self as well as professional growth. Highlights of the semester include working in intensive care units, accompanying patients to the OR, conducting patient care conferences, and caring for premature infants in the neonatal nursery at Walter Reed. 104

Page 107 text:

With the beginning of each semester of the senior year inpatient clinical experience, a special learning session takes place in the form of a skills fair. This fair is set up to familiarize students with some of the skills they will be practicing in the academic term ahead and throughout their nursing careers. It is directed by faculty members who demonstrate and describe such techniques as chest physiothera- py, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, naso-gastric tube insertion, and venipuncture. During the skills fair, students are given the opportuni- ty to try out these new procedures in a non-stressful environment before having to use them in the hospital setting.

Page 109 text:

Students find themselves learning from a multitude of sources e from their clini- cal instructors, other hospital personnel, their fellow students, their patients, and even machines. With this information and their own clinical knowledge and practice to guide them, seniors are equipped to pro- vide comprehensive care to their patients. Such III A learning experiences are espe- cially meaningful to seniors since they become part of the background from which these students will draw after graduation and throughout their profes- sional nursing careers. - skk