Pellissippi Prepared: Nursing program helps alumna be a ‘better nurse’

护理系学生斯科特在医院工作

当切里娅·斯科特的母亲被诊断出癌症晚期时，她正在佩里西比州立大学攻读护理专业。

Scott considered withdrawing to take care of her mom, who was a nurse herself and was proud of her daughter for being accepted to Pellissippi State’s Nursing program. 但在与她的教练分享了这个消息后，她改变了主意。

“They went above and beyond in making sure that I had what I needed,” Scott said of Pellissippi State’s response. “And assured me that if I continued to work hard, they would work with me so that I could succeed. And they did exactly that.”

斯科特说，她的同学和老师都在她身边，支持她度过了那段艰难的时光，为了让她在护理课程中取得成功。

Scott graduated in 2018 and is now a registered nurse in Covenant Health’s Emergency Services.

“That was a great lesson for me, as I continued into nursing,” she said. “Just to take that with me – the compassion, the empathy, the understanding – when I deal with patients and the hard things that they are going through. That experience gave me the tools that I needed to be a better nurse.”

Scott initially connected with Pellissippi State’s Nursing program when she came to an open house. Though she was very nervous and came with “no intentions” of actually applying, Scott said she was met with encouragement, and college staff helped her with enrollment and financial aid right there at the event.

斯科特说，佩利西比最终改变了她的生活。

“As a student at Pellissippi, I was very fortunate to have a program that had a top-notch skills lab, excellent professors and great opportunities in clinical areas, working here at Covenant as a student,” Scott said.

在佩里西比大学期间，斯科特有机会在各种医疗领域做临床工作，也有机会通过“上门送餐”等组织在社区做志愿者。

斯科特说，佩里西比州立护理学院的教师都是这个行业的资深人士，他们确切地知道学生成为成功的护士需要什么。

“They want you to succeed,” she said. “And they will take the skills that you bring of caring, being compassionate, being sympathetic – and they will transform those into having incredible nursing skills.”

她推荐pelissippi的另一个原因是它与Covenant Health建立了牢固的伙伴关系，后者为学生在临床期间提供了许多护理领域的探索。

“Pellissippi was a great stepping stone for me to enter into the career of nursing,” she said. “They gave me a lot of the techniques and skills that I continue to use today, even as I went on to further my education after graduating from Pellissippi, a lot of the building blocks that I received there have helped me to succeed and be a great nurse.”

斯科特说，她的妈妈是个了不起的人，也是个了不起的护士。 It really meant something to Scott as a child, when her mother would come home and share stories of how she had touched other people’s lives in an impactful way.

“And as I went through nursing school and she was diagnosed, it was confirmed when I watched other nurses take care of her, and how incredible they were with her – being gentle, being kind, listening to her and helping her to fulfill her needs as she was transitioning,” Scott said. “It has definitely changed who I am as a person. It has made me a better nurse, and it has allowed me to draw on those experiences when I have other patients and families in similar situations.”