Nursing program prepares students for life of service

At the start of the 2018 fall semester, Vanguard announced the start of a new program, the Bachelor of Science in Nursing. The program has seen 24 students enrolled to take part in the four-year plan.

These students will be challenged to learn new skills to help benefit them while working with patients in the future. Vanguard is offering students a more imitate setting to learn and practice medicine, which is different than most universities, according to Dr. Katherine Tong, Chair of the Pre-Licensure Nursing Program.

“[Most] programs are more impacted which means it is harder to get into nursing programs, a main reason for this is because there’s no faculty to teach students. We are also committing with other universities for clinical placement,” Tong said.

The nursing program gives students the opportunity to work hands on in a hospital, learning patient interaction. It shows the students what it means to be working in these field, according to Tong. The point of the program is to equip these students in being successful in their field.

“It takes a special person to be a nurse. You have to be patient, you have to be flexible, you want to help that person get back to self-sufficiency at all possible,” Tong said. “I want students who are committed. This is not easy work I want to stress this, but we are here for student’s success.”

Students who are currently enrolled in the program deal with a lot of time management. Students must be able to put time aside in their schedule to be studying and reviewing for classes, Tong explained.

“It is very competitive, very accelerated…it is not easy and for students who think it is easy, it’s not by any means. You are going to need to make sacrifice for two years. Yes, these two years will go by fast, but they just have to really buckle down and really study.” Tong said.

The bachelor program is committed to helping students be successful in their medical future. With many of the students coming from different backgrounds in medicine, they are making sure to keep the classrooms a constant conversation.

“I like to always ask students, what they have seen in their own experience because we can always learn [past experiences], we strive for a flip classroom experience. This is where we have students come prepared and they are the ones teaching and feeding off on another,” according to Tongs

With this new way of learning students are being pushed to expand their knowledge and

Students are being pushed to expand their knowledge in the classroom, as well as when working with patients. The Nursing programs looks for new ways to show students that being a nurse comes with different challenges and skills that sometimes cannot be found in a book.

“We make sure to incorporate faith into everything we do, even if it’s theory or clinical, everything. The community likes that overall person, who is looking at the patient spiritually, emotionally, physically. They have the whole package and this sets a Vanguard University student aside from the rest,” according to Tong.

It is the Tong’s hope that the program will propel students into a successful career in nursing that will reflect Vanguard to the community, and in the larger sense, have talented young professionals positively impacting the community for the Lord.