Anna Steele

Fundamentals of Nursing is a program offered to high school students who are interested in health care. This course allows you to go through the process of attending a CNA class as well as getting hands on experience. A small number of 60 students, from Cabarrus County, are excepted annually to take the class as part of their curriculum. I was selected to join the course spring of 2019 along with 29 other students. This course taught the basics of nursing and provided us with 48 hours of hands-on experience. These clinical rotations took place at Atrium Cabarrus and Morning Side Assisted Living. After completing the course, I took the hands on skills test to become a CNA in the state of North Carolina.

My clinical experience at Centra Hospital took place the year of 2021 where I was exposed to various levels of nursing care. Following being accepted to Liberty Universities nursing program I began clinical at Centra Hospital. This exposure took place on a Med-surg, oncology, and OR unit/setting. I gained 72 hours of hands-on clinical experience my first year in the program. This time frame also included 112 hours of skill labs which included fundamental nursing task/information.

The opportunity to travel to St. Mary's hospital in Richmond, VA was for a select few in the Liberty University Nursing program who had been selected. I had the honor of being chosen and was able to travel to this hospital every other weekend. This consisted of 32-hour weekends on a variety of units. Friday and Sunday included a cardiac step-down unit and a few med-surg units. Saturday was specifically for a specialty, for me that was pediatrics. This opportunity allowed for much exposure and growth as a nursing student. A total of 160 hours were gained from this experience.

Fall of 2022 I gained experience on a med-surg, post-surg, and Neurology Unit at Atrium Health Cabarrus. This allowed for 64 hours of hands-on experience and growth in my skills. Spring of 2023 I had rotations on Mother baby, Pediatrics, and an Oncology unit. This exposed me to a variety of specialties and allowed me to see different perspectives on nursing. In total this allowed for 80 hours of hands-on experience within these units. Summer of 2023 I was able to attend clinical at Atrium Health Behavioral health in Davidson, NC and get exposure to an outpatient psychiatric unit. I gained 16 hours of experience on this unit and grew my knowledge in regard to therapeutic communication when working with these patients.