Undergraduate Enrollment Growth: Cultivating Practices for Resiliency
As the College of Nursing’s undergraduate student body grows, so does the challenge to succeed. Between balancing a strenuous course load, working clinicals, studying for exams and maintaining a social life, students often face several stressors during their undergraduate careers.
Since 2011, the University of Kentucky College of Nursing has seen a 36 percent overall increase in student enrollment, with 300 students enrolled during the 2016-2017 academic year, up from 220 during the 2011-2012 academic year.
“We are focused on growing the nursing workforce not only to meet the demands of today’s health care systems, but to exceed them,” says Janie Heath, PhD, APRN-BC, FAAN, dean and Warwick Professor of Nursing.
With each individual student comes a need for additional layers of support. The better we take care of our students, the better we can position them for academic success and, ultimately, the better they can take care of their patients.” Throughout this exciting growth, the College has continued to blanket students with layers of support that drive them to academic and social success. In fact, for the second consecutive semester, students from the College of Nursing BSN Program graduated with a 100 percent pass rate on the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) administered by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing.
“We’re extremely proud of this achievement,” remarks Dr. Heath. “It means that our methods of support are working, and our growth does not impede our ability to generate outstanding graduates to impact the health of the Commonwealth and beyond.”
But what does it mean for students? We truly have to work together— to offer encouragement to each other—because we can’t get through nursing school alone,” says Neal Harrod, a senior in the traditional BSN Program. “It’s a competitive program to get into, but once you’re in, we’re in it together. We all understand what the other person’s going through.”
That same mentality is the inspiration behind several student led activities and organizations in the College. From mental health to academic support, to social involvement and student governance, students are building their own success inside the walls of the College so that they can succeed beyond.
Students Support Each Other Through SMASH
Students must master both clinical skills and classroom material while maintaining commitments to family, relationships and extracurricular activities. Many are still adjusting to college life away from home. And for the first time, they must cope with the common occurrence of human pain and suffering in medical settings, which can affect their thoughts and mental wellbeing.
Senior nursing student Sarah Wise in the traditional BSN program wondered if she was the only student in her nursing class who felt the weight of the world on her shoulders. Once she opened up to her friends and classmates about her struggles, she realized that she was not an exception— struggling with depression, anxiety and stress was a common experience for her classmates.
“I remember when I was going through a hard time looking around and thinking, ‘Am I the only one having a hard time? What’s wrong with me?’” Wise says.
Wise shared her emotional and mental hardships with a group of trusted peers at a lunch break during the spring semester. The students each revealed personal struggles as nursing students. Wise, along with fellow nursing students Kayla Combs and Cassie Snodgrass, both spring 2017 BSN graduates, organized a research project investigating the prevalence of mental health conditions in undergraduate nursing students.
“We’d all had our own experiences that tested our ability to cope with these issues,” Combs says. “We thought, ‘what if this is a wider issue affecting more than just our senior class?’”
During the summer, the group conducted a survey of 160 UK nursing students in their sophomore years—a critical and busy time when clinical rotations begin.
Their survey results showed 27 percent of sophomore students were taking a medication for a mental health disorder and 30 percent reported dealing with a mental health condition. When ranking the degree of stress they felt during nursing school, most students reported levels of eight and nine on a one to 10 scale. The survey also showed that few students were taking advantage of on-campus mental health resources.
The three seniors organized Student Mentors Advocating for Student Health (SMASH) on the premise that peer-to-peer support and faculty involvement can help dissolve the stigma of mental health disorders and encourage nursing students to seek help for mental health issues. The students partnered with College of Nursing faculty members Joanne Matthews, DNP, MSN, RN, APRN-CS, assistant professor, and Cathy Catlett, MSN, RN, lecturer, to promote a healthy school-life balance and create a college culture where students can address the emotional and mental burden of a nursing education and career.
Combs says adjusting to the nursing grading system and having interpersonal contact with sick patients took a toll on her mental health. She says failure in a clinical skills test “felt like the end of the world.” She was further rattled when she witnessed a case of shaken baby syndrome during her clinical rotations.
“We’re going deeper into our patients’ lives and trying to understand how their family feels,” Combs says. “Sometimes it weighs heavy on your heart.”
Combs has since developed coping skills to manage her emotions, grade expectations and thoughts, but she says not all nursing students acquire these abilities on their own. The founders of SMASH believe having peer advisers available to teach coping and stress management skills can help nursing students early in their training. They want fellow health college students to know they aren’t alone in dealing with mental health conditions and are working on implementing peer support interventions and fostering student connectedness to add another “layer” of resources available to students in the College of Nursing.
Small Methods of Peer Support, Big Outcomes
For students who need a simpler push of encouragement from the nursing community, senior nursing student and service coordinator for Student Nurses Association (SNA) Lindsey Snider brainstormed a creative idea.
In February, members of SNA stayed after their monthly meeting and wrote “Open When” letters to target students during particularly stressful times in their nursing school journey. The goal was to provide a new way to support students who might be having a difficult time balancing the rigors of nursing school.
“We need to remember that every one of us struggles at times,” says Snider. “Anything you can do to make someone’s day even a little bit better is always a good thing.”
The letters were located at one end of the student lounge, placed against the window for students to easily access the words of encouragement. From inspirational quotes from hit TV show “The Office,” to serious words of advice, students were sure to find letters that could relate to them in some way.
Many students also participate in First Aid Fridays (FAF), a student-led study session that takes place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. every Friday in the nursing lab. During the spring 2017 semester, two seniors, Liz Carr and Maya Husayni, served as peer tutors, and two doctoral students, Nicki Sullivan, DNP, RN, and Jennifer Smith, BSN, RN, worked as teaching assistants to provide supplemental academic support.
“Typically, as peer tutors, we offer to watch students practice their skills, ensure they have all of the equipment needed and give tips on how to master competency exams,” says Husayni. “I enjoy it because it’s a great way to implement what the College has taught me, and it refreshes my memory on different topics in sharing my skills with other students.”
While attendance varies week to week, some weeks the tutors and TAs will see more than 50 students, while other weeks they might only see 10 students. It all depends on homework assigned and approaching exams or midterms.
“Nursing school is difficult, but no student should ever feel like they’re drowning. Between the faculty, students and administration, no one would let that happen,” says Carr. “First Aid Friday is a perfect example of the College working to empower every single student to own their success and help others succeed with them.”
Administrative Support
Also blanketing students in layers of support are College faculty members. Pat Burkhart, PhD, RN, FAAN, emeritus professor and former associate dean of undergraduate faculty affairs, led Promoting Relationships in Nursing (PRN)—a newly instituted program where each faculty member is assigned a group of students based on the field in which they’re interested. Twice a semester, all of the students meet as a group with their faculty member to establish relationships and learn of the various opportunities within that particular field.
“With SMASH, First Aid Friday and PRN, we’re really using a three-pronged approach to student success,” says Dr. Burkhart. We’re truly working together to support students in their mental health, current academics and their future careers as nursing professionals.” Faculty members also work with the Undergraduate Nursing Activities and Advisory Council (UNAAC) — a student organization that fosters communication among administrators, faculty, staff and students and serves as a liaison with the UK Student Government Association and the College of Nursing Alumni Association.
UNAAC student officers meet once a month to identify resources and support systems that facilitate successful progress of undergraduates throughout the baccalaureate program. The College of Nursing administration listens to student recommendations regarding course and faculty evaluation procedures, proposed appointment and tenure of faculty members, national/international activities and undergraduate student problems and concerns.
Spring 2017 BSN graduate and former UNAAC Chair Megan Auger says the College administration takes the organization seriously when it voices its collective concerns and recommendations on relevant issues or topics.
“Being involved with UNAAC has shown me just how much the faculty and administrators of our College care about our academic success and overall well-being, as well as our satisfaction with the program,” notes Auger. “We couldn’t do what we do without their support.”
