Focus on Education: Making history

Prelicensure students in Chicago, Springfield and Urbana got an unprecedented learning opportunity by taking part in the mass COVID-19 vaccination effort.

Presches Keck, BSN ’21, says she hadn’t previously given an intramuscular injection as a bachelor’s degree nursing student in Springfield, although she’d practiced the skill in the simulation lab.

But she quickly became adept at it after giving more than 40 back-to-back COVID-19 vaccinations at a community vaccination clinic at HSHS St. John’s Hospital as part of her population health class. She and her classmates delivered some of the first COVID-19 vaccinations to the Springfield public.

“You would’ve thought it was Christmas for many of them,” she says. “It was nice to be a part of that moment for so many people.”

BSN student Eva Cancino administers the COVID-19 vaccine at the Credit Union 1 Arena in Chicago.

Hundreds of prelicensure UIC Nursing students across degree programs and campuses participated in the COVID-19 vaccination effort, both through classroom opportunities and as volunteers. Beyond offering feel-good moments, the vaccination clinics provided valuable learning experiences for students, many of whom had limited in-person clinical opportunities during the start of COVID-19.

“Our students and faculty have eagerly embraced this opportunity to be leaders and active participants in promoting and protecting the health of our community,” says Krista Jones, DNP ’11, MS ’07, RN, PHNA-BC, director of the Urbana campus. “For those students on the cusp of professional practice, this offers an evidence-based, service-learning opportunity to apply knowledge to practice and positively impact the health of our population. It is such a remarkably rewarding experience for them and our faculty.”

In Chicago, BSN student Jasmine Medina was so eager to begin giving vaccinations at a University Health Service clinic that she jumped on the opportunity to sign up as soon as it was available to juniors; she was at the clinic the very next day.

“I thought it was a wonderful opportunity to be able to meet healthcare workers and also to be able to gain more skills, since COVID has [limited] some of our opportunities and even cancelled some of our clinicals.”

Medina says she was nervous at first to administer the injections, but by her third patient, she was “rocking and rolling.” Later, she even had the honor of vaccinating then-Dean Terri Weaver, PhD, RN, FAAN, ATSF, FAASM, who, Medina recalls, took the opportunity to quiz her with a question about anticoagulants.

In Springfield, clinical instructor Jennie Van Schyndel, PhD, RN, says she was moved to see the students participate in “part of history.”

The experience allowed students to interact with seniors and other patients, educate them on the vaccine, make appointments, observe patients post-vaccination, and listen to their health histories and medications.

“Students were able to see how much effort it is for a healthcare organization to organize and efficiently carry out mass vaccination clinics,” says Van Schyndel. “They saw how hospital managers volunteered their time to be there and support the efforts. They interacted with senior citizens who came on a cold and icy day—many who thought they had won the lottery by being able to get their first dose.”

CHICAGO: 439 nursing students contributed to the vaccination effort at two clinics – an employee-only clinic and a public clinic at Credit Union 1 Arena—where 106,467 COVID-19 vaccinations were administered from December 2020 to July 2021. PICTURED: Chicago nursing student Maria Escamilla administers COVID-19 vaccinations at Credit Union 1 Arena.

SPRINGFIELD: BSN students in a population health class gave some of the first COVID-19 vaccinations to the Springfield public at HSHS St. John’s Hospital, vaccinating nearly 600 people in one day. PICTURED: Springfield student Karly Schmitz takes part in the vaccine effort at St. John’s Hospital.

URBANA: BSN and Master of Science/graduate-entry students provided COVID-19 vaccinations at the Vermilion County Health Department and at the I Hotel, supporting the efforts of the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District. The work comprised 702 student hours and 152 instruction hours. PICTURED: Jason Brooks, a pre-licensure master’s degree student in Urbana, administers COVID-19 vaccine at I Hotel in Champaign.