Newest Hartwick Nursing Graduates Wasting No Time
Of the Class of 2019 nursing students who graduated last month from Hartwick College, 80% of those employed upon graduation were hired by the site at which they completed their practicum.
In other words, if a Hartwick nursing student trained at a facility, they were more often hired there after graduation than elsewhere.
Newly minted Hartwick nurses were hired at facilities including:
- Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Hanover, NH
- Albany Medical Center, Albany, NY
- Albany Stratton VA Medical Center, Albany, NY
- Arnot Ogden Medical Center, Elmira, NY
- Samaritan Hospital, Troy, NY
- St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center, Utica, NY
- Bassett Medical Center and A.O. Fox Memorial Hospital in Cooperstown/Oneonta, NY
“Hartwick graduates are in demand because the nursing program curriculum and its diverse learning resources prepares them at a level that facilitates their ability to ‘hit the ground running,’” said Clinical Associate Professor and Nursing Department Chair Pat Grust.
In their final nursing course, under the supervision of Hartwick Nursing faculty, students complete a 200-hour practicum working one-on-one with an experienced preceptor in a specialty area of their choice.
“They leave for this practicum as students, and return to us transformed and very ready to assume their first nursing role as graduate nurses. It is this practicum that often leads to their first nursing position,” Grust said.
Alissa Fisher ’19 of Colonie, NY, graduated in May after completing her practicum at Albany Medical Center (AMC). Once she passes the National Council Licensure Examination, she will start work at AMC’s Orthopedics and Spine Unit. She hopes to one day obtain a job in the emergency department of a Level 1 Trauma Center.
“My practicum prepared me for post-graduate work by allowing me to experience a full-time nurse’s schedule,” Fisher said. “I was also able to care for multiple patients under the supervision of my preceptor. I believe that as a Hartwick nursing student, I was set apart from other nursing students because of Hartwick’s strong focus on clinical experience. I was able to start providing direct patient care during my freshman year, while other schools do not start until their sophomore or junior year.”
Pursuing a nursing degree is an excellent career choice and there are ample job opportunities available in the field. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of registered nurses employed from 2016 to 2026 is expected to grow by 15%. This means there will be over 438,000 new jobs open in the nursing field in the next decade.
For more information on the Hartwick College nursing program, visit the department website.