by Karina Brady, Student Public Relations Writer
The Nursing Honor Society of Cedarville University came to the aid of nursing faculty with CPR certification.
In November 2017, 13 NHS students became certified CPR instructors. This designation prompted them to begin helping faculty teach nursing students in the American Heart Association Basic Life Support (BLS) Healthcare Provider course which is required by all hospitals and health care agencies that the school of nursing partners with to provide clinical experiences.
For the past 15 years, nursing faculty members handled the responsibility of certifying all freshmen nursing students and recertifying juniors.
“The school of nursing offers the BLS Healthcare Provider course to all our enrolled students,” said Karen Callan, coordinator of the nursing lab and facilities. “All nursing students who provide nursing care must be certified in CPR in order to attend clinical experiences in our contracted health care agencies.”
Callan added with the continued growth of the nursing program at Cedarville University, all BLS Healthcare Provider courses are at full capacity. The assistance from the NHS certified students is valuable as the school of nursing certifies over 500 students every two years.
The Nursing Honor Society, led by senior nursing major and president Matthias Campion, partnered with the school of nursing faculty to launch this certification initiative last year. “Honors students are pairing up with a faculty member and leading a whole new CPR certification class,” said Campion. “We walk around and look at the mechanics of how students are doing CPR and we’ll give them pointers.”
According to Callan, the honors students are pairing up with faculty instructors to teach 10 BLS Healthcare Provider classes through November. The initial certification for freshmen students is a four-hour course where students learn and practice CPR. After successful completion of the exam, students receive a CPR license that is valid for two years. Students in their junior year must take a recertification course online before their license expires. The NHS students certify the students’ CPR skills after the online course.
“We could not certify freshmen and recertify juniors without their help,” Callan said. “It certainly has been both a wonderful help for the school of nursing as well as a great experience for our honor students.”
The CPR instructors will help 150 freshmen receive their BLS course certification this semester and have already recertified nearly 80 junior nursing students.
Beyond just serving nursing students, the honors students also certify members of the community. Last year they certified members of the Dream Team, a local ministry serving individuals with physical limitations, and the Pregnancy Resource Clinic of Clark County. “We’d like to continue this not only to help our nursing faculty, but as an outreach,” said Campion. In spring 2019, they hope to certify more organizations outside of Cedarville’s campus.
Located in southwest Ohio, Cedarville University is an accredited, Christ-centered, Baptist institution with an enrollment of 4,193 undergraduate, graduate, and online students in more than 150 areas of study. Founded in 1887, Cedarville is recognized nationally for its authentic Christian community, rigorous academic programs, strong graduation and retention rates, accredited professional and health science offerings, and leading student satisfaction ratings. For more information about the University, visit www.cedarville.edu.