USC nursing students attending the S.C. State Student Nurses’ Association meeting Oct. 30–Nov. 1 in Charleston set school records for the number of awards they received and played a key role in the adoption of a resolution about the future of nursing that will taken up at the National Student Nurses’ Association meeting next spring.
“This kind of involvement and recognition of our students indicates the profession of nursing is in good shape and the new generation of future nurses may take us farther than we ever thought possible,”said Lydia Zager, a clinical associate professor who accompanied the students to the convention as a past state consultant and advisor.
“The students see the need to get involved in the profession at a state and national level to carry forth the policies that are important,” Zager said. “Seeing students perform like this is exhilarating, reassuring and reaffirming.”
Twenty-eight Carolina students attended the meeting, also a record, and came away with 12 awards and two elected state offices. The awards included the prestigious Who’s Who Award to Jessica L. Jones, a senior from Irmo, and the Most Involved Community Participant, Allison R. Holland, a senior from Columbia. The two new state officers are Eboni T. Herbert, a senior from Greenville, and Jordan A. Stoner, a freshman from Sumter.
A new state faculty consultant, USC clinical assistant professor Gloria Fowler, also was selected.
About 500 nursing students attended the meeting representing some 18 nursing programs statewide.
The resolution written by the USC students was adapted from an initiative of the Cockcroft Nurse Leadership Program at USC for emerging nurse leaders. It stressed the importance of promoting a vision statement for nursing. The statement defines the role of nurses in care giving and empowers them to speak in a “single unified, powerful voice.”
The resolution addressed the need for “an attractive, worthwhile, and achievable vision of the future widely shared” for nurses, noted a 10-year projection of nearly one million job vacancies in nursing, and called for unity in the profession by embracing a vision statement that said, “Nurses transform care giving through holistic excellent practice.”
Zager attributed the increased activism by the nursing students to a combination of their community service and professional orientation, the support of nursing dean Mary Ann Parsons, and the increased involvement of faculty members.
“We’re getting more people involved as official advisors and have lots of people who like to help the students and assist,” Zager said.
“We also have a very professional group of students who are not only concerned about doing the best job they can, but are dedicated to community and professional service. Their work on the resolution also speaks to their professionalism by looking at nursing now and in the future.”
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