Alva, Okla. — Fourteen students in the Wisdom Family Foundation Doctoral Program for Rural Nursing Practice at Northwestern Oklahoma State University spent five days on the Alva campus for residency week in July.
The students are involved in a hybrid program meaning that much of their education is completed online. The students can complete clinical work in their hometowns while Northwestern faculty members supervise remotely. For residency week, the students come to the Alva campus for a week of hands-on training and to show that they are competent in physically assessing patients.
Students who attended this year’s week-long residency program included Teresa Austin of Mooreland, Dipal Bhakta of Tulsa, Payton Bills of Yukon, Jordan Bourland of Colgate, Cassandra Denoya of Ponca City, Shirley Font of Yukon, Sydney Hamill of Anthony (Kansas), Sarah Maldonado of Monkey Island, Caitlin Nagel of Garber, Heather Patton of Stigler, Mollie Hughes of Tulsa, Caley Sharp of Ponca City, Ifeoma Uduezue of Edmond and Elizabeth Wright of Durant.
During residency week, students are able to check off their physical assessment skills to prepare for a clinical setting. They receive an introductory experience to common procedures they will encounter in primary care such as suturing, eye injuries and biopsies. Kiowa Meat Locker donated pig feet to practice suturing and cattle eyeballs for assessing eye injuries, and Moore’s Venture Foods in Alva donated overripe produce for biopsy simulation.
Dr. Gwyneth Holderby, assistant professor of nursing and Wisdom Family Foundation Doctoral Program for Rural Nursing Practice program director, was joined by assistant professors of nursing Dr. Angela Skousen, Dr. Hannah Hoppes, Dr. Krystal Elliot and Dr. Sierra Elsey to provide instruction to the group during the week. Together they supervised physical exams that were completed on community volunteers and taught the students procedures like joint injections, repairing lacerations with sutures, and other procedures commonly performed in primary care.
Holderby also met with students to discuss their DNP projects and clinical placement.
“It was a great week,” Holderby said. “The faculty and students really got to bond with each other and grow their relationships. The students checked off on head to toe exams so they are ready to start clinicals in the spring and learned many skills they will need for practice. We had so many amazing volunteers from the community as well.”
The BSN-to-DNP program enrolled its first class in August 2017. The sixth class to have graduated did so this year in May. Members of the graduating class of 2025 presented their respective projects in the J.W. Martin Library on July 17 in an event open to the public.