Nursing Students Reach Out to Campus Community

Photo by Heidi Stambuck

A University of Arkansas nursing student, right, gives out health information outside the Arkansas Union.

University of Arkansas nursing students spent several hours outside the Arkansas Union on Sept. 30 educating fellow students and others on campus about influenza, breast cancer and anxiety.

"We want students to see that nurses work in many areas, not just illness," said Sarah Foster, a senior in the group. "We are taking a class about community health, learning about ways to reach people in the community. Nurses also educate people and help them to maintain good health. For example, we found research that the better informed young women are about breast cancer, the more likely their mothers and grandmother are to get screenings."

The Eleanor Mann School of Nursing seniors distributed information about how to tell the flu from a cold and where to get a flu vaccine on campus (the Pat Walker Health Center), to raise awareness about breast cancer and to cope with stress in college life, from the transition from high school to test anxiety.

"There are three main things that students may be anxious about - finances, tests and social adjustment," Foster said. "We're telling them about CAPS (Counseling and Psychological Services) at the Pat Walker Health Center, the clinic in the psychology department and the Enhanced Learning Center. Some students don't realize we have these resources on campus to help them cope with stress."

The community clinical group is taught by Rochelle Franklin, a clinical instructor in the nursing school.