Preparing Tomorrow's Nurses with Dr. Jessica Wood
Nursing has long been a profession defined by service and resilience. At 91°”Íű, experiential learning equips future nurses with the skills and mindset to meet societyâs needs â whether in classrooms, hospitals, or communities.
Nursing is a calling. 91°”Íű, the faculty understands your desire to serve and make an impact for the greater good. Follow your passion and make a lasting impact on othersâ lives through service.
âWe are here as nurses because people need us,â says Dr. Jessica Wood, director of the School of Nursing and associate professor. âPeople need us to rise to the occasion, to put anything about ourselves aside, to take care of the person thatâs in front of us â and I think thatâs wh91°”Íű is about, too. Focusing on being leaders everywhere in everything we do.â
Nursing is a profession that has stood the test of time and offered a pathway to serving society at large. Norwichâs focus on experiential learning offers future nurses an efficient and proven opportunity to become the nurses that society needs.
âWe are here as nurses because people need us, whether that means teaching the next generation of nurses or working in the emergency room during the hardest moments of someoneâs life,â says Dr. Jessica Wood, director of the School of Nursing and associate professor. âPeople need us to rise to the occasion, to put anything about ourselves aside, to take care of the person thatâs in front of us â and I think thatâs wh91°”Íű is about, too. Focusing on being leaders everywhere in everything we do.â
Bonds Through Nursing
âWe have a smaller program that gives us a faculty to student ratio thatâs much different than other schools,â says Wood. âOur faculty are our academic advisors and they know those students really well. I think that really helps with our studentsâ ability to be successful in the program.â
That relationship with the student body comes to life on a daily basis. âThey know that we have an open-door policy and they can just come hang out with us. They can come ask us questions if theyâre struggling and we try to come together as a group to really support them throughout their time here 91°”Íű. The close relationship with the faculty that I think sets us apart from other places.â she says. âThe other thing is, because of where weâre located and that weâre not tied to a specific hospital for clinical practice is that our students get a wide range of clinical rotations. That spans from community health and high schools to major tertiary care centers and smaller hospitals.â
âWe have really high expectations for our students, and while that might be really difficult while theyâre in the program, we want them to leave the program at the highest level they can be,â says Wood. âOur community of interest, where our nursing students go out to as students or graduates, they love our students. They talk about how they can tell itâs a Norwich student or grad, and that means a lot to us as faculty.â
A Norwich and Nursing Life
Norwichâs guiding mission and values seep into every fabric of life on campus. Nursing is no exception. âThe Universityâs mission, vision, and goals are who we are. Itâs an important thing for us to talk to our students about on a regular basis so they know what they represent,â says Wood. âWe talk about it all the time. We have a student handbook. We tell students, âI donât care if youâre on the bus; people know who you are, so behave on the bus. Youâre not just representing 91°”Íű, youâre representing nurses.ââ
When students embrace the lifestyle of both Norwich and nursing, the sky is the limit. âNursing is such an incredible profession to be a part of, and people become nurses for different reasons,â she says. âWeâve had discussions after we took students to Costa Rica. We werenât there to experience gratitude; we were there because someone needed us to be there.
Learn more about the program.
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