Nursing career path requires dedication, practice

Students have an opportunity to practice their technical and communicational skills on high-quality mannequins before starting clinicals. Alisa Chmerenko | The Washtenaw Voice 

Alisa Chmerenko | Contributor 

Nursing is one of the promising and ambitious professions that has six percent employment of registered nurses projected to grow from 2023 to 2033, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor. Students at WCC enroll in the nursing program to begin their careers. 

The process of getting into a nursing program can be difficult and demanding for students. 

After applying for college classes, people who want to join a nursing program need to take certain classes, maintain high grades and then apply again for the nursing program to be considered for second-tier admission. 

WCC nursing instructor and registered nurse, DeAnna Gapp, explained that approximately 140 students register for the WCC nursing program on average, and that only around 70 top students succeed and earn a spot every semester. 

Individuals who are applying for the nursing program need to undergo a test called ATI-TEAS, which includes math, reading, English and science proficiency. 

WCC has well-arranged labs “that look like a hospital room” and have “high-tech mannequins.” Gapp shared that given rooms help students experience a hospital before their clinical “to simulate what it’s like over in the hospital, before you go to the clinical, you will feel very comfortable and confident to go to the clinical because we have labs and simulation.”

In the first semester, scholars get the opportunity to have clinical experience in a real-life setting, usually in an acute care hospital. A group of students is assigned to the clinical floor with an instructor to practice all the knowledge that they acquired from labs and lectures and apply it to the patients on the floor.  

After finishing WCC nursing training, students must take the NCLEX exam to become licensed registered nurses. Gapp said, “Once you graduate from our program, 96% of our graduates pass the exam on the first attempt.” 

Gapp said that, after graduating, new nurses could expect a lot of job opportunities, since the U.S. is experiencing a nursing shortage. 

People who earn a nursing degree could work in an emergency room providing instant care to more creative jobs that require art skills and knowledge. 

Marsha Harrison, a registered nurse who has worked in the field for over 50 years, graduated from the University of Michigan, has experience working at the hospital and public health, and has mostly worked as a general community health nurse, said that becoming a nurse is “a lot more challenging because of the amount of technology that is involved in nursing now.” 

On the question about the cons of getting a nursing degree, she said that to have more opportunities, it is encouraged to get higher education. Additionally, because of the nursing shortage, new nurses can be overworked and exploited. But Harrison shared that one of the reasons to get a nursing degree is having flexibility in the different choices as a career path, hours and caring for people. 

For a smoother start to a student’s nursing path, she recommends working as a nurse aide for at least a year to familiarize herself with hospital settings, learn practical skills, and take care of people. This helps not only with getting technical skills but also with building community. 

“If you go into nursing in 2025 and beyond, it would be different from my last 50 years doing nursing, but it can be equally rewarding,” Harrison said. 

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