The Camp RN students learn about the nursing profession through classroom instruction, hands-on activities and job shadowing.

By Rebecca Wyatt Thomas, OU Web Writer

After the success of the first Camp RN at Oakland University in 2006, OU’s School of Nursing offered two sessions of an expanded two-week camp this summer. Camp RN gives seventh through ninth graders the chance to learn more about the nursing profession through classroom instruction, hands-on activities and two job shadowing opportunities at local hospitals.

With a nationwide nursing shortage, Patrina Carper, academic adviser in the SON, and Kristine White, admissions adviser in the SON, developed Camp RN to get students interested in the profession and teach them what to focus on through middle school and high school to make sure they are successful in college.

“We teach the students about CPR, first aid, taking a patient’s temperature, taking a pulse, respiration, hand-washing, dressing in a gown with a mask and gloves, making a bed and positioning and moving patients,” said Christina Goldsworthy, an SON student instructor.

During the day camp, the students also participate in sessions on computer-based research, clinical calculations and nutrition and nursing forensics. At the end of each week, the campers will shadow a nurse from Troy Beaumont and St. Joseph Oakland hospitals.

“We had a very large demand for the one-week program we offered last year. We decided to expand the program to two weeks and offer more to the students,” Carper said. “This format allows the students to use what they learned throughout the week during the job shadowing session. It also allows them to apply what they learn during the first job shadowing to the information presented to them the second week.”

The camp is designed to give the students a broader understanding of nursing and demonstrate it’s not a females-only, hospital-based career option. With the appropriate training, students can work as nursing professors or researchers and they can work in a number of fields. Each session is open to 25 students. The first session, which was held June 18-29, had seven male students.

The camp is supported by two volunteers, six instructors and two coordinators.

For more information on Oakland University’s nursing programs, visit the School of Nursing Web site or call (248) 370-4253.