Photo by: Joseph Macia
Ahmadi: Registered Nurse Educator Michele Ream is training UNC undergraduates to become patient sitters.
NAT FROM PATIENT SITTER ORIENTATION
Ahmadi: It’s a job that requires the constant monitoring of patients who can’t be left alone. Ever.
Nurse Meg Zomorodi cautions…
Zomorodi: They’re gonna see some things
Ahmadi: Post-pandemic staffing shortages leave many hospitals without enough sitters – for patients with acute mental health challenges or dementia, they’re essential.
Zomorodi: We worked to build a three credit hour course.
NAT FROM PATIENT SITTER ORIENTATION
Zomorodi: And the students work as patient sitters.
Ahmadi: Zomorodi, who is the Associate Provost for Interprofessional Health Initiatives at UNC, launched the class last fall. It’s an innovative model that eases the staffing strain at UNC Hospitals. She’s hoping to expand the program across the state.
Zomorodi: The number one thing that we have heard from our nursing colleagues in the professional schools that students are applying to or even our medical school colleagues is if you can do patient sitting, you probably can do anything.
Ahmadi: While students aren’t allowed on certain units, they’re still expected to handle difficult situations.
Zomorodi: Patients who are asking where their family is but their family doesn’t come and that’s heartbreaking.
Ahmadi: The program alleviates pressure on certified nursing assistants, like Raygan Hawkins, who have to serve as hospital sitters when there aren’t enough to fill the need.
Hawkins: It’s okay if we have like a very low ratio of patients but if we have a lot that’s when like actual nurses have to step in, that’s when our charge nurse has to step in. It is like a domino effect.
Ahmadi: Mallory Tadlock is a second year student at UNC. She took BIO 119 in the fall. She says you don’t always know what to expect, but she believes the program should expand.
Tadlock: I think it was a great opportunity for me, without having any other, really hospital experience, or just having any patient care experience.
Ahmadi: Last semester, one of Tadlock’s peers in BIO 119 saw an unresponsive patient on her shift and immediately began CPR. She saved the person’s life.
Zomorodi: On a personal note, my mom died of a healthcare error where somebody didn’t respond in an appropriate way. So to have created something that kind of saves another person’s life indirectly is, is just a cool full circle moment for me.
Ahmadi: Right now Zomorodi says the BIO 119 model is “uniquely UNC,” but she’s looking to scale the program.
Zomorodi: If we can build this here at UNC Maine, why can’t we do that at UNC Rockingham? Why can’t we do that in Pender County, so that students, especially in our rural communities, can get this experience that sets them up for success.
Ahmadi: According to a study done by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing an estimated 100,000 nurses left the field during the pandemic and more than 600,000 plan to leave by 2027. Zomorodi hopes her strategy will keep people in the medical field.
I’m Madeleine Ahmadi reporting.
