inPractice - Summer 2019 - 15

PA COLLEGE / FEATURE

Dariychuk and Lupfer say that it was appealing to them to
enroll in a Three-Year BSN program, rather than stretching
out their nursing education over four years. Both said that they
valued the intensive clinical internship, an in-depth shadowing
experience that pairs a student with a working nurse for the
entirety of every shift the nurse works over a five-week period
during the second summer of the program. "I felt like I learned
so much from having one-on-one time with another nurse,"
Dariychuk says. "I could ask any question that I needed to."
Lanyce Roldan, the Chief Nursing Executive of Penn Medicine
Lancaster General Health, says she is extremely pleased that
PA College has started to offer prelicensure BSN education.
"At Lancaster [General Hospital], we've been pursuing a goal of
having a very high rate of BSN-prepared nurses at the bedside,"
she says. "And we felt that the first summer internship experience
was really a wild success. We chose nurses here who felt a real
passion for acting as mentors to these students."
Erica Shoesmith, BSN '19, experienced that commitment during
her own internship. "That was really the most transformative
experience of this whole program," she says. "I was paired with a
nurse who loved to teach, and that internship was what showed
me that I was really prepared to step into this role."
More than anything, Shoesmith says she has appreciated the
supportive culture of the BSN program. "The other students
are just some of the most outstanding people I've ever met," she
says. "I would gladly let any of them take care of me or my loved
ones. We could tell that the professors wanted us to succeed and
to become skilled nurses. I have friends who have studied
nursing at larger universities, and I know that there isn't always
that personal connection. Here, the professors know our names,
and they know about our lives, and I think that just speaks
volumes about this program." n

"

Being familiar with
overarching nursing
concepts allows us to be
able to constantly update
our priorities as we receive
new information."
Karen Lupfer, BSN '19, a member
of the inaugural class

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PA College / Summer 2019

15
inPractice - Summer 2019

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