According
to Anita Rhodes, Director of the Nursing Dept., many complaints Nursing
students struggled with, while enrolled in the Nursing program previous
semesters, have all been taken seriously.
“I think it’s a fresh new attitude, it’s a great
new start,” said Rhodes.
Rhodes believed that many of the problems that students experienced
were due to the heavy workload expected of students, especially those
taking clinicals. “Our students are dedicated and work so hard,”
said Rhodes. “But, if students aren’t prepared for the
workload, it causes the downfall.”
As
a result, one of the changes made to the nursing program is a more
extensive explanation during student orientation for nursing students,
prior to their entrance of the program.
“The program is intense, but anyone you talk to in Nursing will
tell you it’s intense. We’re always keeping up with new
treatments, medications and technology and are constantly learning,”
said Rhodes. Rhodes doesn’t deny that the program did have things
to work on, but said they felt misrepresented.
Nursing
director Anita Rhodes answered students’ complaints by
implementing changes to the EPCC nursing program, such as
adding new instructors and extending lab hours.
Photo courtesy Anita Rhodes
“Some
students went to the paper with complaints. It’s not that we
didn’t have things to work on, but faculty and other students
felt that a couple of students were trying to speak for the entire
program,” said Rhodes.
Faculty and staff are working together to pinpoint specifics with
Total Program Evaluations which check graduation rates and employee
student satisfaction during and after the program. “We usually
score in the 90’s and have excellent nurses,” said Rhodes.
For students already in the program needing an extra hand, the program
now offers more study skills. These sessions offer help on: how to
read the updated editions of student textbooks, how to organize their
studies, how to better remember terminology, how to take tests, and
overall, learning how to maintain information studied.
Rhodes said that the department hired these new full-time instructors
Eugene Minott, Cindy Valentine, Margie Trimble and Deana Furr. New
part-time employees were also added to the laboratory staff, extending
its hours, which was one major complaint students made.
Pat Marion, lab assistant, didn’t offer any specific hours for
the lab, however, “Every instructor is posting their own lab
hours on the open bulletin boards,” she said.
Despite the new staff, there isn’t a set lab schedule. “I
don’t know about any new staff,” said Marion. “The
hours are about the same.”
Rhodes insisted however that the lab is almost always open in the
afternoons everyday until about 7 p.m. and on Saturdays.
“There are 10 students per faculty member and students must
sign up. If they don’t sign up it’s likely to close early.
Quite a few full-time employees have open lab hours however, and Saturdays
have a good turn out,” said Rhodes.
According to Rhodes, students petitioned to increase computer laboratory
hours by 15-16 more than they were having. This petition was passed
for the Nursing Computer lab.
Tackling complaints one by one, Rhodes insisted that the complaints
were valid and taken to heart. “We hope to improve our relationship
with students and other faculty,” said Rhodes.
“We are constantly working on making improvements,” said
Rhodes. “It’s been a whole departmental issue. The whole
faculty took it to heart and decided they wanted to make the whole
program better for everybody.”
Rhodes is willing to listen to students at what she calls brown bag
Luncheons.
“This is a good way for students to let me know about our program,”
said Rhodes. “Students are customers and we aim to please while
maintaining a higher education level.”
The next brown bag luncheon where students may voice any further concern
will be held on Oct. 4 at noon in the student lounge in Building H
at the Rio Grande campus.
“This is the start of my fourth year at EPCC and it’s
the most positive for everybody,” said Rhodes.
Rhodes doesn’t take all the credit, however.“A lot of
credit goes to faculty for hearing what students were saying and to
volunteer to make the program better,” said Rhodes.
