Back into the fold

By Laura Raines

Pulse editor

Last fall, the WellStar School of Nursing at Kennesaw State University added 11 slots to its RN refresher/re-entry program. The slots were filled immediately, so the school added another 11 in the spring.

"We're seeing a lot more demand for this program right now," said Anne White, DSN, RN, director of the Continuing Education division of the WellStar College of Health and Human Services. "We could take even more students, but we can't place them clinically, because hospitals are overwhelmed with training their own new hires.

The challenge is finding preceptors in the right specialties and locations to work with former nurses. Returning nurses most log 160 clinical hours under a qualified preceptor.

Kennesaw State's classroom and online students come from all over the state.

The school has offered the re-entry program for 13 years at the behest of the Georgia Board of Nursing, which determined that registered nurses who had been out of clinical practice for more than five years, or who had let their license lapse, needed a clinical refresher course to be reinstated. Between the two-week campus course and the online program, KSU puts about 80 nurses a year back into the work force.

"Most re-entering nurses say they are overwhelmed by all the new technology in today's health care environment, so we focus on what has changed: the new technology, drugs, treatments and diagnoses. They already know the basic skills," White said.

Many nurses are coming back to practice for economic reasons -- a spouse has been laid off or their children are going to college. Others took time off to raise children and want to resume their careers.

"Whatever the reason, these are dedicated students because they want to be here, and hospitals like re-entering nurses because they usually don't have to spend as many hours training them," White said. "They get a mature, experienced employee who wants to work."

Attorney missed nursing

Kathy Harrington has traversed multiple career paths. She started as a nurse in 1987, working in critical care, intensive care and emergency settings.

"My brother was a patent attorney and I got interested in what he was doing," said Harrington, BSN, JD, BSEE.

She earned a bachelor's degree from Georgia Tech in 2002, followed by a law degree from Mercer University in 2005. In 2006, she opened a patent law practice in McDonough with her brother, Curt Harrington.

Harrington loved the challenge of intellectual property law, but she missed nursing.

"When you're behind a desk all day, you really begin to appreciate a job where you're up and about and have your hands in something," Harrington said. "As a nurse, I was whipped at the end of the day, but I felt like I'd done something really important."

When Harrington recently had cardiac diagnostic tests, a nurse helped her feel comfortable and less scared.

"It's amazing how in the space of a few minutes, by a touch on the arm or a few words, a nurse can make a difference. You just don't know how much a touch can do," Harrington said. "I missed being able to have that kind of impact."

Harrington has completed the online refresher course and will do her clinical hours in the postanesthesia care unit at Coliseum Health System in Macon, where she worked previously.

"I was flattered that they wanted me back," she said.

Harrington's goal is to work in a flex pool, or as needed, for three to five days a month, in addition to her law practice.

"Every day I think more and more that I'm on the right track," Harrington said. "I realized that I had clinical skills and experience that I was wasting.

"If more nurses realized that they didn't have to make it their only hat, more might come back or stay. We need them."

'Nursing is my niche'

Thirteen years ago, Rosanna Newman was burned out as director of nursing at a nursing home. She left intending to pursue a master's degree in counseling, but ended up taking care of her sick mother.

"That was what made me decide to go back into nursing," said Newman, BSN, RN. "Mom had home-health nurses and I saw how they cared for her.

"I love working with the elderly. That's where my heart is. I'm not cut out to be a manager; I'm a caregiver."

The online refresher course was harder and more intense than Newman expected, but she recommends it.

"I learned so much, and it's amazing what comes back to you," she said. "There's a lot of new technology, but the caring and the diseases are the same."

KSU was able to place Newman at CareSouth Home Health for her practical experience. She works for CareSouth in Washington, Ga., about 40 miles from Augusta.

"I travel, but I like the rural area and my patients," she said. "I'm so glad -- you can't imagine. Taking the re-entry course was well worth it because my whole life has turned around.

"After caring for Mom, I knew where I wanted to be. Nursing is my niche."