Starting the day After a 7 a.m. meeting with other nurses, senior Melissa Steibel checks patient status in the Progressive Care Unit of Northeast Regional Medical Center. Angie Potter will soon be on call for a week in the labor and delivery unit at Northeast Regional Medical Center. She is not a doctor, but a Truman nursing student.
Potter is required to witness a birth for a nursing course.
She spends about 16 hours a week at the hospital in clinicals. But in Kirksville her chances of working at the hospital when a woman goes into labor aren't as favorable as in a larger community, such as Kansas City. Nursing professors understand the need for students to look for health experiences beyond Kirksville and help them find opportunities, Steibel said. Steibel is taking a one-week acute care elective in St. Louis for credit at Truman. Acute care is working in an emergency room or critical care unit, as opposed to community health, working with public health agencies.