Saint Leo University's sees first graduates from nursing program four years later
Bay Area nursing program graduates its first class
Saint Leo University’s nursing program, which launched in 2021, now has its first class of graduates ready to enter the workforce. FOX 13’s Briona Arradondo reports.
SAINT LEO, Fla. - Four years of classes, stress and navigating a life post-covid paid off for nursing graduates of Saint Leo University’s inaugural nursing program, and it’s fitting during National Nurses Week this week.
From scrubs to a cap and gown, the very first class of nursing graduates are done. They started the program in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic when the world was very different.
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What they're saying:
"I feel like at that time we are all still kind of in a panic, and I really couldn’t grasp how the world had changed with that," said Emily Edwards, who graduated on Wednesday from the nursing program at Saint Leo University.
Edwards first spoke with FOX 13’s Briona Arradondo four years ago as she began her journey. Now, she said she’s a different person.
"I honestly feel way more prepared than I ever thought I would," said Edwards.
She learned from nursing instructors like Paige Porter, who teaches pharmacology, critical care, nursing transition and more.
"COVID changed everything, for sure. And one reason that this program was launched was to address the nursing shortage," said Porter.
Dig deeper:
Well-being and self-care became a priority as a response to nurses’ burnout during the pandemic.
"I always would tell them that you can't pour from an empty cup," said Porter.
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She also taught them about the latest technology they’ll come across in the field.
"I like incorporating AI into familiarizing them with that, of course, using it ethically. But that's becoming more and more predominant in academia and in the healthcare field," said Porter.
The hands-on experience the graduates received outside the classroom helped them out in a way they said they couldn’t have imagined. Saint Leo University partnered with AdventHealth Zephyrhills as part of a Dedicated Education Unit program to pair working nurses with nursing students.
"We had so many opportunities to be fully immersed into the clinical experience because I feel like what they teach you in nursing school is entirely different than the real world," said Edwards. "I was pretty much doing 99 percent of what I would be doing as a nurse. I just had someone watching over me."
It has solidified what nursing means to her.
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"It’s not just giving meds and seeing patients, but it’s also sitting there for patients when they’re going through the hardest times of their life," said Edwards.
What's next:
Now headed home up north, she said she hopes to take her board exams in June before returning to Florida as a licensed nurse, coming full circle.
"I’m between a couple of hospitals in Tampa and Sarasota actually, but my dream job is actually to work in pediatrics," said Edwards.
Future nurses like Edwards are needed in more ways than one.
"It’s not just a shortage of nurses in general, but people who really care about what they do. And I kind of hope I can at least fill my little part of the world with that care and compassion," said Edwards.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered by FOX 13's Briona Arradondo.
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