Fifteen high school upperclassmen and recent graduates from around Alaska recently participated in Anchorage Nurse Camp at University of Alaska Anchorage.
The program is hosted by RRANN, Recruitment & Retention of Alaska Natives into Nursing, a part of UAA’s school of nursing. Students are learning some hands-on skills, such as giving injections, dressing wounds, checking vital signs and doing other simulated treatment on dummies.
Annette Rearden, RRANN coordinator and a nursing professor, said the goal of the camp is to introduce students to the profession and encourage them to consider nursing as a career. Statewide, the program hopes to increase the number of Alaska Native nurses. Now, many places in both rural and urban Alaska rely on traveling nurses, who often work on a 13-week rotation.
“We are in a shortage, and we need culturally competent nurses to provide good care,” Rearden said.
UA Workforce Development News 