Shadow L - UPMC Campus Ambassador at RHSHS

It’s the season of giving and UPMC never falls short in giving back to its Campus Ambassadors with little surprises like this, and to their nurses from DAY ONE with awesome benefits like Monthly Loan Repayment (MLR) incentive for 2022 nursing graduates. Nursing students graduating in calendar year 2022 are eligible to receive $20,000 following six months of employment in an RN role, paid over the course of three years. Sign-on bonuses, up to $10,000, are also available on top of this incentive! There are plenty of opportunities available to become part of the UPMC Family, ask me for details!

One thing I learned from my amazing preceptor during my internship this summer was the importance of taking breaks when you can and practicing self care!

As a UPMC Campus Ambassador and ER Tech I have the self-scheduling flexibility to have taken a weekend off this month while preparing for my midterms and spending it exploring a new city!

Studying and learning more about medicine is always a welcome challenge, but this trip I added a stack of new books to my home library to enjoy when my brain needs a break!

You could also have this kind of work-life balance by choosing UPMC. Junior level students can begin that journey with the summer Student Nurse Internship! Guess what: applications are open until MARCH this year! Feel free to drop your questions below or shoot me a message, and remember SELF CARE IS IMPORTANT!

It’s August so that means SNI Applications for next summer are LIVE!

If you are a junior level nursing student looking for the experience of a life time check this out!

I am available by message almost any time to chat about the application and interviewing process, onboarding, my experience in the program, and more! Trust me you will not regret this!

Building Confidence through the Student Nurse Internship Ever wonder what it's like to be a student nurse intern at UPMC? Our most recent class of interns are here to share what they learned and what future SNIs can expect.

“I Finally Feel Comfortable In My Nurse Shoes”

Being a first year nursing student is nerve wracking enough, but being a first year at the start of a pandemic? That takes the cake. So much of my college experience has revolved around Covid restrictions and modified or simulated classes and clinical experiences that I felt like I hadn’t even broken the surface of what I needed to know to be a knowledgeable nurse! Starting the second year of my three year program and seeing real patients was amazing, but what really caught me up to speed was the UPMC Student Nurse Internship Program.

I was able to work with an outstanding preceptor for ten weeks, and because of her excellent teaching abilities I was able to experience so much in the ED! Week one and two were spent mostly with me watching and asking a million questions and my preceptor doing the skills and sharing her knowledge. By week four or five I had built enough confidence to be more hands on, and by week six and on I felt like I had really found my groove and could manage my tasks with much less assistance!

During one of my last weeks we had a patient who was very sick and needed to be transferred and that case really sealed the deal for my confidence in my abilities. I was able to make phone calls to find information for their family, offer emotional supports to them and the patient, and educate them on their loved one’s condition and treatments discussed with them by the provider.

What really made this situation stick with me was during an especially critical moment I felt so comfortable as to make quick judgement calls and delegate simple but vital POCT tasks to the PCT, who we were lucky to have working with us that day, while I remained with the patient and monitored them for any airway compromise and continued assessments.

I still feel like there’s a whole world of knowledge waiting for me to learn, but thanks to my time in the SNI program with a phenomenal preceptor and team I finally feel comfortable in my “nurse” shoes!

Meet your UPMC Campus Ambassador!

My name is Shadow, I am 24 years-old. At present I am a senior-level nursing student and student mentor at RHSHS and a 2022-2023 UPMC Campus Ambassador (CA)!

I am currently finishing up my last few weeks of Student Nurse Internship at UPMC Lititz in the Emergency Department and then will be returning to my PCT role there until graduating in April of 2023 as well as serving as a CA during that time. Over the next year as a CA my primary role is to help other nursing students learn about and hopefully find their home away from home with UPMC!

My future career goals include working in the ED as a new grad, obtaining my BSN, and taking advantage of all the opportunities for growth that are available to me as a UPMC employee!

Some fun facts about me include:

🌻 My favorite flowers are sunflowers
🐝 I love animals and interesting creatures like bees
🎶 I spend my free time going to concerts (and even crowd surfing at some of them!)
👩🏻‍⚕️ I am most passionate about Pediatric Emergency Medicine

Feel free to reach out with any questions, and keep an eye out for future posts!

Shadow L - UPMC Campus Ambassador at RHSHS updated their business hours.