Alva Review-Courier -

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Seeing Amanda Fox give intravenous medication to ease the rapid heartbeat of a middle-aged man in the emergency department of Memorial Medical Center helped cement a Litchfield High School student's commitment to become a registered nurse.

"It was so awesome how fast the medicine works," Hannah Niemann, 17, a senior this coming fall, said June 29, after witnessing the work of veteran nurse Fox.

Niemann was one of 60 central Illinois high school students taking part in Memorial Health System's annual "Teens Experiencing Nursing" camps in Springfield, Jacksonville, Taylorville and Lincoln.

The no-charge day camps — which last for a different number of days this week depending on the location — allow students to follow nurses in different settings for hours at a time and observe their work with patients.

A nationwide and local shortage of nurses is a driving force behind the camps, according to Stacey Hull, the not-for-profit health system's workforce development consultant. The overall goal, she said, is "encouraging people to pursue careers in health care."

The nursing shortage that began in the early 2000s and is steadily increasing could get worse with the influx of patients born during the baby boom — from 1946 to 1964, Hull said.

"We will always have a need for nursing," she said. "I don't see that changing."

Memorial Medical Center, a 500-bed hospital, has offered a nursing camp for the past 15 years, while 25-bed Taylorville and Abraham Lincoln memorial hospitals have been involved for shorter periods.

Passavant, a 93-bed hospital that became part of the not-for-profit health system in 2014, also operated nursing camps in the past when it was an independent organization, Hull said.

About 20 high school students who participated in the past have gone on to become registered nurses and work for the health system, Hull said.

It wasn't easy to get into the camps. The 60 students were chosen from 140 applicants and judged based on academic performance, essays, letters of recommendation and, in some cases, personal interviews.

All of the students gathered at the Memorial Center for Learning and Innovation in Springfield for lectures and participation in medical simulation procedures.

They were taught the importance of hand washing to prevent transmission of germs. They learned about isolation rooms, vital signs, sedation, wound care and tourniquets.

Students were informed about the associate's and bachelor's degree-level nurse training programs in and around Springfield, including at Lincoln Land Community College, University of Illinois Springfield, Millikin University, MacMurray College and St. John's College.

The students all were given red scrubs to wear during their time at camp, and they all will receive special pins at the end to signify their participation, Hull said.

The students also received instruction on the job-shadowing experiences. Some observed emergency room nurses, nurses in maternity units and those on medical-surgical floors and oncology units. Some spent time in intensive-care units and in Memorial Medical Center's regional burn unit.

Students were informed about starting pay levels for new RNs in the Springfield area: $40,000 to $50,000 per year for full-time work. They also learned about advanced-practice degree programs that can lead to careers as highly paid nurse practitioners and nurse anesthetists.

Many of the campers, after spending about eight hours following nurses, complained of sore feet, Hull said. They were told that many nursing shifts last several hours longer than eight hours.

Camp participant Marissa Sorce, 17, a Chatham Glenwood High School student, said her mother is a labor-and-delivery nurse at Memorial.

Sorce, who with Niemann was among 30 students spending time at the hospital, said nursing appeals to her because of the urgent health needs nurses often handle. "It's an instant-gratification thing," she said.

Niemann said her mother is a kindergarten teacher in Litchfield.

"I realized little kids are not my thing," Niemann said. "I found myself really interested in nursing and wanted to further pursue it to make sure nursing was the career for me."

With one day left, Niemann said her camp experience so far has been "amazing."

"I got to see different traumas, and I got to see some medicine take place really fast, and the experience has just made me know 100 percent that this is the career I'd like to fall into," she said.

Fox, 42, told Sorce and Niemann in Memorial's emergency department that experience helps nurses learn how to prioritize tasks.

Expressing empathy toward patients, dealing with patients with wildly different health problems and injuries — all while remaining upbeat — can be a challenge, Fox told them.

"You can't be so emotionally involved that you get depressed," Fox said. "You've got to learn how to 'flip the switch.' I like watching people get better. I focus on the positives. It's really a matter of choice."

Having hobbies and interests outside of work can help nurses deal with the stress, Fox added. Some Memorial employees even take vacations together, she said.

Sorce and Niemann said the flexible schedules and almost guaranteed employment offered by nursing are all attractive.

Fox, a mother of three children, agreed, noting that she works part time some weeks and full time other weeks. She also teaches nurses at Memorial.

"You can do anything you want in nursing," she said.

For Niemann, one eye-opening aspect of the camp was experiencing the sheer number of patients and other people nurses interact with each day.

"My mind is still blown," she said, adding that she wants to help patients as a flight nurse at some point in the future.

"I want to be in the helicopter eventually," she said.

___

Source: The (Springfield) State Journal-Register, http://bit.ly/2saqOQZ

___

Information from: The State Journal-Register, http://www.sj-r.com