The pandemic has changed what getting your degree looks like for all college students. But for those in the nursing field, it hits closer to home.
Both current nursing students and those who have graduated from Milligan’s nursing program are learning what it means to be in the healthcare field during a health crisis. For those currently seeking a degree, the set up of clinicals studies has changed multiple times.
“At first we weren’t allowed to go into certain parts of the hospital such as the NICU, due to COVID and not really knowing how the disease process worked,” said junior nursing student Makinleigh Calton. “Now it’s not much different. We don’t go full hours like we normally would’ve, but we still get close to the 50 hours of clinical time during the whole semester.”
Even though COVID-19 has restricted what students typically do, there are still some positives.
“I would say an advantage to being a nursing student during a pandemic is that we get to see how all the different medical professionals come together and work even harder to be able to provide care to the people in a time with so much uncertainty and learning as we go,” said Jenna Wade, also a junior nursing student.
There are many who have graduated from Milligan that are on the front lines helping people everyday. Grayson Fleming graduated in May 2021 and is currently a registered nurse on the Neuroscience Progressive Care Unit at Johnson City Medical Center.
While the unit that Fleming works in typically specializes in those with conditions or diseases of the neurological system, she still finds herself working with COVID patients.
“While I’m not directly on the covid unit, we are being affected by the influx of COVID patients being placed in our ICU,” explained Fleming. “In other words, we are treating more sick patients, patients that would normally be sent to the ICU but now we don’t have room for them.”
Another Milligan graduate, Melanie Gardner, has found herself in a similar situation. She is a travel nurse who works in ICUs across the country and is currently in Washington state. Gardner sees the intensity of this virus firsthand.
“Everyday I take care of patients who are covid positive and sick enough that they require placement in the ICU,” Gardner said. “These patients unfortunately do not have high rates of improvement, most of them do not leave the ICU alive, and not being able to see my patients get better definitely takes a toll on you mentally.”
This mental toll is overwhelming many nurses whose dreams of working in the medical field looked nothing like this.
“I have friends and coworkers already looking to leave the field because this isn’t what we expected to do after graduation,” Gardner said.
On the other hand, many nurses have banded together and lean on each other to get through something so strenuous.
“There have been several shifts that I’ve definitely made it out sane due to the other nurses I work with,” Fleming remembers. “We’re all being placed under the same amount of pressure and we all understand that, so it’s been great to grow and work together as one big family.”
From students to working nurses, from Johnson City to Washington state, nurses are working like they have never worked before as the pandemic continues to impact our nation.