She will graduate with her BSN next summer and will turn 16 in the fall, making her the youngest nursing student graduate ever at ASU.
In 2009, ASU had a student graduate at age 17, but this is truly unique, says Judith Karshmer, dean of the Edson College.
“The fact that Elliana has found her passion in nursing and is pursuing it at this level already is really impressive,” Karshmer said. “Our program at Edson College is quite rigorous in order to adequately prepare future nurses for the workforce. Her ability to handle the coursework and clinical experiences at such a young age is extraordinary and truly sets her apart. I’m just glad she picked us to earn her BSN and can’t wait to see all that she accomplishes in the future.”
Tenenbaum says she discovered her passion to heal people at an early age by shadowing her father.
“I’ve always had a calling to heal people and I grew up with my dad as a medical doctor. … I think I was 4 when I did my first shot and 8 when I did my first thyroid ultrasound,” she said.
Greatness runs in the family. Her mother, Maya, has her PhD, has taught statistics and political science, and continues her love of learning by taking postdoctoral classes. She says her daughter had a “deliberate plan,” and even mapped out her journey to success using charts to keep track of her credits and progress. In all, she says about 300 emails were sent back and forth between her daughter and her counselor.
“It’s really gratifying as a parent to see a child living up to their full potential and finding their gifts and giving back to the world,” Maya said.
Elliana Tenenbaum comes from a family of five, including a brother who attends the University of Arizona. Yet she chose ASU because of the accelerated nursing program and has found Edson professors to be exceptional and her fellow students to be quite supportive.
“They have accepted me as one of their peers and it’s been a great experience,” Tenenbaum said.
She sped through her high school years and took college credit courses while at El Camino High School at Ventura College in Ventura, California. And while she is incredibly smart, she said she did find some of her anatomy and physiology courses to be challenging at times.
The program she is enrolled in now is even more intense. It involves a rigorous 16-month accelerated program designed to give cohorts of nursing students real-life experience by working with patients, doctors and nurses in local hospitals and clinics.
“I am looking forward to working with more at-risk populations because there’s a greater responsibility there and they really need it,” said Tenenbaum, who has begun clinicals at the Justa Center and John C. Lincoln Memorial Hospital in Phoenix.
So, what’s next for this real-life Doogie Howser? While she can legally practice nursing in Arizona once she passes her state board exam, known as the NCLEX-RN, she plans to continue her education and pursue a master’s degree and a doctorate in nursing, which is a step beyond a nurse practitioner. She has an interest in acute care and trauma but would also like to explore other options that might allow her to see the world, such as travel nursing.
She advises others to be open-minded and to “not limit people by their age, and recognize people as individuals and not as numbers because everyone is different and learns at different paces”
She also says, “If you have an interest in something, find a way to pursue it.”
As for that driver’s license, well, she’s also enrolled in driver’s education courses, too, and will take a stab at that shortly after graduating college. But first things first.
Nurse of the Week Elizabeth Anh-Trinh Stulac, RN/BSN is an established nurse leader working toward a Ph.D., but she remembers where she came from. So, earlier this month she went back home to Elk River, Minnesota to share a message with graduating seniors at tiny Ivan Sand High School, the alternative learning center she graduated from herself in 2008.
“It is not a secret that when you go to an ALC school, sometimes people view you as being a bad kid, an outcast, or not smart enough to make it in a traditional high school. I am here to tell you: That is false.”
Stulac, who later graduated from college Summa Cum laude and in the top 15 percent of her class, is studying for a doctorate in transcultural nursing while working as a charge nurse in the Mayo Clinic’s COVID-19 intensive care unit. Her older sister, now a nurse practitioner, was a high school dropout who eventually earned her GED. Thus, Elizabeth Anh-Trinh Stulac knows just how grave an error it can be to make assumptions about someone’s capabilities.
When the latest Ivan Sand grads gathered on June 7 for their graduation ceremony, she urged them to believe in themselves and get in touch with their own leadership skills.
First, the alumna told them, don’t buy into stereotypes of Alternative Learning Center students! “Here I was at the Mayo Clinic, the No. 1 ranked hospital in the world, and they were telling me the strengths that I brought to their organization.” The RN, who is also Mayo’s Rapid Response Team Nurse and chairs two committees (in her spare time), flatly informed the 2022 class: “It is not a secret that when you go to an ALC school, sometimes people view you as being a bad kid, an outcast, or not smart enough to make it in a traditional high school. I am here to tell you: That is false.”
The 2008 Ivan Sand grad can speak from experience: “Through the many leaders that I have worked with throughout the years, I have come to realize that one of the greatest predictors of success is your perception of yourself. I am here to tell you all today, as you graduate from Ivan Sand Community School that you are not an outcast, you are not a bad kid, and you are not the many things society has made you believe about yourself. But in fact, you are a class of potential leaders.”
After stressing the importance of assessing yourself on your own terms and not those imposed on you by others, the RN told the class of future leaders to write down their short-term and long-term goals,” and determine what they need to do to achieve them. Then, with a hat tip toward the Mayo onboarding process, Stulac added, “I would also recommend identifying your own personality type, and the strengths that each of you carries individually.”
And never assume defeat. Her sister, Stulac says, “is one of the smartest people I know.” ALC students learn early that “Life is messy.” After all, “Not all of you come from traditional families. Many of you are working to help support your families. Opportunities are not given equally to each person. But the feeling that you get when you achieve your goals, having overcome those barriers, is worth the hard work and worth the bad days — because you will have many bad days. Success does not come free; you must work hard for it.”
With her NP sister’s example in mind, as she concluded Stulac reminded them, “Your success is not only your own but the people who look up to you. I know that some of the greatest leaders are here among us tonight, and I am so excited for you and the impact that you will make on the world that we live in, and what you will achieve!”
A good message for all graduates to live by. Fort the full story on the graduation ceremony, see here.
NYU Rory Meyers School of Nursing has been expanding its offerings focused on LGBTQ+ health to better prepare nursing students to provide culturally affirming and inclusive care to this population.
“It is rare for nursing schools to offer coursework dedicated to the health and well-being of LGBTQ+ individuals, despite the unique issues they face and growing interest from students. Our goal is to empower new nurses to provide care for people across sexual orientations and gender expressions that promote health and improves patient outcomes,” said Jeff Day, DNP, AGPCNP-BC, clinical assistant professor at NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing, who developed and is teaching a new elective course on LGBTQ+ health.
LGBTQ+ individuals face barriers to healthcare, including stigma and discrimination, as well as longstanding health disparities—for instance, an increased risk for substance use, suicide, and sexually transmitted infections. Nurses have historically been leaders in caring for this patient population, particularly in advocating for people living with HIV and AIDS, but many health
professionals lack an understanding of LGBTQ+ issues in healthcare.
Research shows that undergraduate nursing programs spend an average of only 2.12 hours teaching content about LGBTQ+ health topics. Some nursing schools have taken steps to add LGBTQ+ content to their curricula: At NYU Meyers, educators recently introduced an LGBTQ-focused simulation to prepare nursing students to create a safer healthcare environment for all
patients irrespective of their gender and sexual identity. The simulation demonstrates the use of inclusive language during an imagined emergency room visit.
In 2019, Day was approached by students in one of his courses who were eager to learn more about LGBTQ+ health, prompting the development of the new standalone elective. “While ideally LGBTQ+ content would be woven throughout the entire nursing curriculum, we recognized that this amount of change takes time, so we developed an elective course to help fill the gap in LGBTQ+ educational content” said Day.
The new undergraduate course delves into the role of the nurse in providing culturally inclusive care for LGBTQ+ patients. Students learn about the history of LGBTQ+ health issues, physical and mental health concerns unique to this population, and laws and policies governing LGBTQ+ care. Topics covered include improving the care of transgender patients, HIV/AIDS, and addressing discrimination in healthcare.
The course was successfully piloted at NYU Meyers in Spring 2022 and will officially be part of the curriculum as an elective in Fall 2022.
Few, if any, new nurse graduates walk onto a hospital unit on their first day brimming with confidence, much less clinical expertise. Thus, new grad residency programs help transition nurses from the world of textbooks to the realities of the bedside.
At UMass Memorial Health, new grads can find a wealth of support in the organization’s graduate residency program, which accepted its first cohort in 2007. Two campuses, University and Memorial, host the program.
Year-long program
The one-year program has various components. During the first 13 weeks of the program, new grads are establishing their foundational practice, notes Karen Uttaro, MS, RN, NPD-BC, NEA-BC, senior director, professional practice, quality and regulatory readiness, UMass Memorial Medical Center. Nurses are placed in a unit, based on their skill set and where a position may be vacant, and assigned a preceptor.
Working with the preceptor, they refine the skills learned in nursing school. What’s more, the new grads meet weekly with fellow new grads and members of the nursing leadership team. The 13 weeks are an average time, which can be tailored to individual needs until a nurse can practice independently.
Besides working with a preceptor, the new grads attend class weekly, where “we have a chance to emphasize key components around clinical skills,” says Uttaro. “It’s that sense of community and support. And that’s the undercurrent and the foundation of our program, to really make sure that they feel supported,” she says.
After that first 13-week component, new grads have a monthly three-hour check-in. Instructors review a topic, such as mock resuscitation, or bring in a subject matter expert, notes Uttaro. “It’s really building on their knowledge and skills throughout that whole first year,” she says. Finally, at the end of the year, the new grads have conversations about their professional goals to foster life-long learning.
Learning from each other
Not only do the new grads learn from the seasoned nurses, but the reverse also is true, notes Uttaro. “Our seasoned nurses know the new grads will teach them just as much as the seasoned nurses are going to teach our novices because they have strengths in both generations.” For instance, baby boomers and Gen Xers may not be as strong in evidence-based practice and where you find those resources, Uttaro notes, whereas Gen Z’s and millennials are very savvy with that information. “It’s establishing that common ground that they’re going to get something from each.”
One new grad who went through the program, Brittany Garlisi, BSN, RN, says that she was under the misconception of the old axiom that “Nurses eat their young.” But when she was paired with one of the oldest nurses on her unit, “I was pleasantly surprised to find that they were one of the most kind and nurturing teachers I could have had.”
Striking gold
As a new grad, Danyel Stone, BSN, RN, CCRN found support in the program. Having graduated from nursing school in December 2020, she started in the new grad program in March 2021.
“It’s a lot to start off as a new RN, especially because I feel like 80-90% of the job you will learn in person while you’re working,” she says. “Starting off as a new nurse, I was very, very nervous going into it. And I think that being part of the residency program really helped me stay grounded.”
Coming from a previous career as a securities broker, Garlisi felt anxious about working as a new nurse. “I felt that even though I had the book knowledge, I did not have much of the practical knowledge. So it made me very nervous to be doing a lot of things for the first time as a registered nurse as opposed to being oriented and having a support network to really teach me.”
“I thought I was just signing up for some kind of mentorship but I really felt that I struck gold. It really was way better than I could have anticipated.”
Growing program
Typically, notes Uttaro, each cohort has 50 new grads. Each year, the hospital supports three cohorts, one starting in March, then August, then December. This year, Uttaro expects to have as many as 150 new grads, with a target of 200 to 250 new grads in 2023.
Impact of COVID
As with virtually every aspect of healthcare, COVID threw a wrench into the residency program.
The cohort that was to start the program in March 2020 couldn’t go onto the units. Instead, the new grads worked as a prone team. “We found a different role for them to leverage their nursing knowledge,” says Uttaro. “And we were able to foster skills like leadership and teamwork and communication.”
Because many new grads lost out on clinical time during COVID, notes Uttaro, the program re-emphasized skills the grads didn’t get.
Measuring success
The program can measure success in two ways, notes Uttaro. First, in November 2021, the program achieved accreditation from the ANCC Practice Transition Accreditation Program (PTAP). “So we have the external validation that our program is evidence-based and meets the rigorous criteria of that organization,” Uttaro says.
Second, retention of new grads pre-pandemic was 100% at the one-year mark, 92% at the two-year mark, and 88% at the three-year mark, according to Uttaro. “We retained our novice nurses for the long haul,” she notes. “I think it’s really planting the seed and being that coach for them that keeps them in our village,” she says.
Fostering respectful communication is one hallmark of the program. “Most of the bad things that happen in healthcare are a result of communication breakdown,” Uttaro says. “In this program, and throughout the organization, we emphasize asking questions in a respectful way. If it doesn’t feel right in your gut, you don’t need to know why, you just need to know whom to talk to. Being able to say, ‘I think something isn’t right,’ really reinforces that communication is essential to all aspects of your practice.”
Healthcare is a very complex environment right now, notes Uttaro, “and making sure that the new grads are positioned for success is our top priority.”
Behind the contagious smile of Nurse of the Week Paulina Andujo BSN, RN, ONC lies not only a compassionate caregiver but also a unique talent.
“I DJ on the side; it’s my creative outlet,” the orthopaedic nurse says. “It’s my therapy.”
Growing up in Sunray, Texas, a rural town with a current population under 2,000 people, Andujo learned the meaning of community and developed a knack for caring for others.
“I was always the caregiver; I was always the one taking care of my brother and sister if they got hurt,” said Andujo. “When my brother broke his arm, I was his personal nurse. I was 6 years old.”
After graduating high school, Andujo went on to receive her nursing degree from Texas Woman’s University. She would ultimately move to Los Angeles to be a nurse and to also enroll in a DJ school.
Orthopaedic nurse by day… pon the replay at night
Serving as a clinical joint surgery manager for the Joint Replacement Program, Andujo interacts with patients through virtual and in-person education before and after they have any type of joint replacement surgery.
“We help build a relationship with patients from the moment they walk through the door, and we want them to know they have someone they can contact when they get home,” said Andujo. “I think it helps ease their anxiety because they know if they have a question, they can call us, and we’ll be here to help.”
While Andujo had always had an ear for music and a desire to become a DJ, it was a skill she would have to learn as a beginner.
“I didn’t know anything about DJing; I just knew that I liked it,” she said. “I began learning to DJ the minute I walked in, and I fell in love with it. It’s still something that I continue to practice all the time.”
Affectionately known as DJ Pau Pau, Andujo says she finds a connection to others and herself through music.
“Music moves people and it’s something that can connect us, even if you don’t understand the language or the lyrics,” said Andujo. “I really liked connecting to the music and then using it to communicate to others.”
For Andujo, learning the craft of DJing served both as therapy and a meditation tool during the COVID-19 pandemic—the only time she felt helpless as a nurse.
“It definitely helped me get through the pandemic,” she said. “It was where I would go to get out of my head and de-stress.”
DJing didn’t only help Andujo. Her talent helped other nurses throughout California when she participated in a live Zoom party with a performance for nurses.
“Everyone was having a good time dancing,” said Andujo. “It was a way of connecting again in a way that we hadn’t in a long time because of the pandemic, and it was so fun.”
Andujo was recently elected to serve on the executive board for the National Association of Orthopaedic Nurses and shares her nursing expertise through her global volunteer work with Operation Walk, a volunteer medical humanitarian organization that provides the gift of mobility through life-changing joint replacement surgeries.
From Guatemala to Nicaragua and most recently Cuba, Andujo has been on seven medical trips for Operation Walk.
“Being able to go on these trips and see what a difference surgery can make for someone, it’s really rewarding and fulfilling,” said Andujo. “I don’t know what I would be doing if I weren’t a nurse. This is what I’m supposed to do.”
Through it all, Andujo is grateful for the supportive environment she receives back home.
“Cedars-Sinai is very supportive of nurses,” said Andujo. “They empower nurses to go back to school, get involved with research, volunteer and, of course, pursue our own personal passions.”
To help address the shortage of nurses in the state of Utah, the University of Utah College of Nursing will increase enrollment in its prelicensure track by 25% over the next year. College leaders say this increase addresses the rising need for registered nurses in the wake of COVID-19 and because of other factors that are reshaping the nursing profession.
“This initiative is a major undertaking, and it is the right thing to do given the contemporary challenges we face,” says Michael Good, M.D., CEO of University of Utah Health. “It’s vital that we educate, train, and deploy enough nurses in Utah and elsewhere in the Mountain West to provide the health care that residents of this region have come to expect and deserve. This new approach to nursing education will be beneficial to all. I am grateful to our nursing faculty for proactively addressing this challenge.”
To meet this commitment, U of U Health’s College of Nursing will accept an additional 36 prelicensure students each year, increasing its annual enrollment from 144 to 180 students. In the past, the College of Nursing accepted 72 students for either spring or fall semester enrollment. Now the college will accept 60 students three times a year by adding the option of summer semester enrollment.
“We can’t unilaterally solve the nursing shortage. We’re fully aware that a 25% increase in our enrollment will barely put a dent in it. But we care about the people of Utah who need health care, and we’re doing our best to be responsive.”
The college will commit more than $400,000 per year to achieve this goal. Additional personnel devoted to this increase in students will include full-time faculty adjunct faculty, a student advisor, a clinical placement coordinator, and patient simulation specialists, says Marla De Jong, Ph.D., RN, dean of the College of Nursing.
“It’s important that people in Utah, as well as the rest of the country, have an adequate number of nurses to meet their health care needs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year,” says De Jong. “We are trying to graduate more registered nurses to meet the growing demand and, in particular, ensure that there are enough nurses in Utah to provide quality care for patients now and in the future.”
More than 2,500 unfilled registered nursing positions in the state
The change comes at a time when the profession is facing a potentially crippling shortage of nurses nationwide. In fact, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics projects nearly 176,000 new job openings a year for registered nurses through 2029.
In Utah alone, more than 2,500 registered nursing positions are currently unfilled, according to De Jong. This gap is particularly striking given that 88% of College of Nursing graduates live and work in Utah. It is also one of the major reasons the college is expanding its enrollment, she adds.
The severity of the shortfall hit home earlier this month, when 20 US Navy medical personnel, including 14 nurses, were deployed to University of Utah Hospital to help alleviate staffing shortages that had kept 52 beds out of service. The shortage led the hospital to defer hundreds of surgeries and limit acceptance of transfers from outlying hospitals.
However, this short-term solution will not resolve the long-term problem, according to Melody Krahulec, DNP, M.S., RN, assistant dean for Undergraduate Programs at the College of Nursing. Long hours, physical stress, and mental strain have taken their toll on nurses for decades, leading many of them to leave the profession. The COVID-19 pandemic has merely exacerbated that trend, with perhaps as many as one in five considering leaving nursing within the next two years.
Add to this that almost one in five Utah nurses are approaching retirement age, and the future of health care in the state could be challenging. “That’s why an influx of a new generation of highly trained and competent registered nurses is vital,” says De Jong.
“We can’t unilaterally solve the nursing shortage,” De Jong adds. “We’re fully aware that a 25% increase in our enrollment will barely put a dent in it. But we care about the people of Utah who need health care, and we’re doing our best to be responsive.”
In addition to new faculty, the College of Nursing will be seeking additional preceptors in community hospitals and clinics to oversee the 900 hours of clinical experience required for each nursing student prior to graduation.
“We’re grateful to our health care partners within the Salt Lake Valley for doing their best to accommodate the experiential aspects of our nursing education,” says Krahulec. “As we expand, their continued support in providing clinical placements that ensure our students are exposed to a multitude of caregiving situations is fundamental.”
Enrollment for the summer 2022 semester has been filled, and the fall 2022 application cycle is closed. Spring 2023 semester applications are due by September 1, 2022, and fall 2023 applications are due by February 1, 2023. The deadline for summer 2023 applications will be announced soon.
