ASU, PCH partner on cutting edge programs for nursing students

PHOENIX — Arizona State University’s nursing college and Phoenix Children’s Hospital are teaming up to create first-of-their-kind programs for nursing students.

One of the programs is the Dedicated Education Unit. It gives undergraduate nursing students from ASU’s Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation a chance to work closely with nurses at PCH.

“Our ASU nursing students get a chance to not only be part of the team, but they get to interact with the families and with the other interprofessional team members to provide high-quality care,” Judy Karshmer, dean of the ASU’s nursing college, told KTAR News 92.3 FM.

As part of the DEU program, students shadow a PCH nurse for six full nursing shifts. This gives students clinical skillsets, such as inserting IV’s and patient charting, that help prepare them for the highly sought-after Transition to Practice program at PCH, which gives nursing students more than 100 additional hours of time at the pediatric beside.

“A DEU like the one at Phoenix Children’s is one of the first of its kind in pediatrics, and this program helps develop ‘workforce ready’ nurses who are confident in their ability to work with young patients,” Julie Bowman, chief nursing officer at PCH, said in a statement.

ASU’s nursing college and PCH are also partnering on another program that prepares graduate-level students to care for children with acute health conditions. It’s called the Acute Care Pediatric Nurse Practitioner DNP and Certificate Program, and it started last fall.

As part of the program, students complete a major intervention project through which they identify an issue in patient care, conduct research and implement a solution within a department at PCH.

“This relationship between ASU and PCH around nursing education, nursing innovation and nursing research is really designed to take the nursing care and the kinds of patient care provided at PCH to the next level,” Karshmer said.

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