From KOMU Channel 8

Link to original post here.

Lauren Schwentker, KOMU 8 Reporter

COLUMBIA- MU Health Care’s hospital beds are quickly filling up with patients, which has caused nurses to spread thin, according to a recent press release.

In early December, Robin Harris, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the Sinclair School of Nursing, asked MU nursing students to help out over winter break on general care units. 

The response was overwhelming. More than 60 Sinclair School of Nursing students stepped forward to give up their winter break and help reduce a patient overload.

“We have these students who want to learn, want to contribute, want to serve their community during a pandemic,” Mary Beck, MU Health Care Chief Nursing Officer said. “They understand this could be their neighbor, their family, their friend. When this is done, they will be able to say, ‘I served, I made a difference.’ We are so overwhelmed by their response. The partnership also goes hand and hand with the school’s new apprenticeship program.

The “Grow Our Own” Registered Nurse Apprenticeship Program is set to launch in the spring semester of 2021.

According to the release, the program targets nursing students from the 25 counties directly served by the University of Missouri Health Care and gives them more opportunities to learn and help out MU Health Care during these times.

“This is good extra clinical experience because we haven’t got to be gotten to be in the hospital as often because of COVID,” senior nursing student Naomi Joy said.

Joy said one issue they are currently running into at MU Health Care is an overflow of ER patients.

“It just makes it a little chaotic, because now we’re kind of playing musical chairs with rooms and trying to make space,” Joy said.

According to MU Health Care’s COVID-19 dashboard, there are 40 inpatients with positive cases and 42 inpatients with pending tests. MU Health Care tests all patients admitted to its hospitals, whether or not they show symptoms.