The Purpose

The Career Related Field Experience is an integral component of the Elmira College Nurse Education Program that provides its students with the opportunity to explore in depth a nursing career role of choice one-on-one with a Registered Nurse preceptor. Principles of nursing leadership are incorporated into a synthesis of all previous nursing courses and experiences. This six week experience assists the student to complete the transition process from student to beginning practitioner.

The Setting

Robert Packer Hospital is located in Sayre, PA and is a 238-bed tertiary care teaching hospital. Its Emergency Department is a Level II Regional Trauma Center that serves a broad area of both Northern Pennsylvania and the Southern Tier of New York.

The Experience

For six weeks I was paired up with my preceptor, Gretta, RN working alongside her during her 12-hour shifts. After learning the feel and pace of the Emergency Department and becoming comfortable with numerous skills such as IV insertion, nasogastric tube insertion and foley catheter insertion I began taking my own patients.

I learned how to move people from triage to treatment to discharge or admittance to the hospital. I was able to work along physicians assisting with bedside procedures such as stitches and application of casts, being in the trauma room hooking patients up to the monitor, recording information, and reassuring families.

Experiences in the Guthrie ER

• MVAs

• Small bowel obstructions

• Pancreatitis

• Diabetic Ketoacidosis

• Suicide

• Fractured femur

• STEMI

• Cerebral vascular accident