RN-BSN Nursing Students Intertwine Personal and Academic Experiences

The Nursing and Health Studies RN to BSN program is as unique as the students in the program.  The students are practicing nurses pursuing their BSN.  Students live all over the state and even world.  Examples of places our students reside include Sigonella, Italy; Santo, Vanuatu; Phoenix, Arizona; and Green Bay, Wisconsin. These non-traditional students bring rich life and work experiences that enhance the learning environment.

While completing the required Community Health Nursing Practicum, students work alongside nurses as they learn the specialized role of community health nursing.  The Fall 23 semester offered many students unique experiences to not only learn but provide a service to their practicum site.  Below are three such examples.

• While working with a local university health and wellness center, Dorian Dupee engaged with the Committee on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. Dorian, fluent in English and Hmong, was able to provide an important perspective  as a diverse, non-traditional learner. He was asked to review documents written in Hmong language for his employer, editing to reflect accuracy.
• Nataly Torres Huerta, a RN-BSN student who was born in Mexico recently completed her practicum at a local health department. As a medical-surgical nurse who values community service and volunteering, Nataly and another UWGB student assisted her practicum site during a critical public health nurse shortage.  The students assisted the agency to host their annual flu vaccine clinics, and other essential services that otherwise may not have been offered.  In addition, Nataly, fluent in Spanish and English, revised and developed many materials in Spanish to serve the rising population of Spanish-speaking residents.
• A third RN-BSN student, Bao Yang completed her practicum at two sites, a public K12 school and federally qualified clinic. School staff praised Bao’s communication skills as she assisted with their health promotion program.  Both sites noted how impactful Bao’s fluency in Hmong and English was to their programming.

To learn more about the RN-BSN program, please visit https://www.uwgb.edu/rn-bsn/