CATHERINE DENTON: I had hoped that having
community health this semester, we would incorporate something
with COVID.
As soon as Dr. Mitchell and Cat started talking about it,
I was super excited because I think
that it is an opportunity to tangibly change
what has been happening, and it's something
that I think we've struggled with-- feeling
very stuck for the past year.
It's frontlines right there in the middle of what
is the most important thing right now in community health,
so I think that it'll be awesome to get
that firsthand experience.
Like, why not go out and do it if we can.
That seems even better.
EMMA MITCHELL: Historically, nursing students
have been involved in mass-vaccination events,
but also, as a workforce for health systems.
And there's been a lot of concerted effort
on the part of leadership in the School of Nursing
here, as well as in the health system,
to ensure that the students really have a learning role
and that their role really is about public health
in alignment with our course objectives.
By giving them that opportunity, we're
really able to not only have them learn about something
tangible that can be done right now, but also, preparing them
for whatever the next pandemic is going to be.
CATHERINE ELMORE: The students are
so eager to participate in the COVID-vaccine clinic.
Everyone was given a choice, so they could have opted out,
and all of my students said yes.
They wanted to participate.
So I think that's really exciting,
and we want them to have this experience too.
It's a really historic moment in our country,
and we think that they should participate
just like other health-care providers are
getting to participate.
EMMA MITCHELL: They do all of the pre-vaccination training
that other UVA volunteers are doing,
and then they'll be part of the vaccination effort March
into April.
So students, along with their clinical instructors,
will be participating in our community-based vaccination
clinic, and under supervision of their clinical instructor,
are going to learn about the different roles that
are necessary to make those clinics run.
I think it's important that we've incorporated it
into our course, because that way,
students are able to draw those connections between not
just being a skill, not just being about putting
a shot in an arm, which is an important part of it,
but it also allows them to be able to incorporate
the pre-vaccination teaching, post-vaccination teaching.
How is it that we help convey evidence-based information
to the public?
CATHERINE DENTON: I was emotional
when I got my COVID shot because even though the pandemic's far
from over, I think I was just excited to see something
tangible.
And so in my eyes, being the person
to give that to someone else will
be emotional for me, as well as probably for them,
to see something tangible come out of this, even
if it's a tiny little stick.