For some post-graduate students at California State University, Stanislaus, the recently-completed Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) and Master of Science in Nursing Degree program was a life-saving experience.
Eleven students, all of them registered nurses, were awarded their Master of Science in Nursing Degrees and (FNP) certificates on May 23 in Rohnert Park through a distance learning grant program offered in cooperation with Sonoma State University.
Kathy Collins, clinical instructor for the CSU Stanislaus cohort in the program that also includes student cohorts at Chico State and Humboldt State, said the graduates have spent the last two to three years studying to become family nurse practitioners. In addition to participating in classes via the CSU Stanislaus distance learning television network and online classes on the Internet, the nursing students took part in free clinics in Patterson and Modesto.
While serving clinical time at the Modesto Gospel Mission and at the Del Puerto Health Fair in Patterson, some students in the CSU Stanislaus cohort were able to make life-saving diagnoses and react to emergency situations that were potentially life-threatening. Collins expressed appreciation to the leaders at both sites for helping make arrangements to accommodate the clinical time for the future family nurse practitioners.
“Many of the graduates will work at health care facilities in the CSU Stanislaus region, providing health care to many of the area’s poor and underserved populations who are in need of their services,” said Collins, a practicing FNP in Modesto. “Special thanks goes to Margo Arnold and Dr. Eric Ramos at Del Puerto and Barbara and Vern Deatherage at the Modesto Gospel Mission for their efforts.”
Lorraine Romero of Riverbank, a Public Health Nurse in San Joaquin County for nine years who has completed the post-graduate FNP degree program, had one of the most unique student experiences at the Modesto Gospel Mission clinic when she unexpectedly discovered that a female patient was about to have a baby. Earlier in the session that day, two of her patients with serious medical problems were sent by ambulance to Modesto hospitals.
During a clinic session at Del Puerto sponsored by the Soroptimist International Club of Patterson, student Matthew Haskett of Turlock, a registered nurse and director of education at Turlock’s Emanuel Medical Center, detected symptoms and later confirmed uterine cancer in a female patient.
“There is a big shortage of primary health care providers in the area, and the people we saw at the clinics demonstrated that,” Haskett said. “The Family Nurse Practitioner program was a great opportunity for a group of students who are ready to do good things to help people who need these services.”