EVENT: WELL CHILD CLINIC

October 16, 2018

Well, well, well. The Harding University Carr College of Nursing did it again. For over thirty years, the Well Child Clinic has been available to children of the community aged 2-to 8-years-old. This service has continued to provide undergraduate students with a valuable experience in preforming these real-life assessments, while also benefiting community members.

The purpose of this clinic is to provide an enjoyable and relaxed environment for the children as they are screened. The screening preformed collects the health information necessary for entry into school programs. This clinic will continue to be offered every fall and spring, which has included a complete vision and hearing check-up and routine urine test.

Caroline Burch, senior nursing major, found this experience to be very beneficial and valuable in her growth as a student, specifically in preparation of her future career.

“The importance of all clinical experiences is found in being able to practice our skills under the guidance of an instructor,” Burch said. “We have the opportunity to receive critiques and learn from our mistakes, as well as our successes. This allows you to be more prepared for situations in the future when we won’t have such easily accessible guidance. I definitely have a sense of confidence in providing care to my pediatric patients after my experience in the Well Child Clinic.”

Students began preparing for these patient assessments in their pre-nursing courses according to Shelby Koch, a senior nursing student.

“All throughout our time in the nursing programs are teachers emphasize the importance of the nursing assessment and teach us the normals and abnormals in given situations,” Koch said. “Mrs. Lacy, our pediatric professor, provided us with materials and advice on how to best perform our assessments with pediatric patients.”

Nona Lacy, an assistant professor of nursing, acknowledged the many learning applications these examinations have provided students who have received the opportunity to administer these clinical practices, as well as the service to the community the clinical have provided.

“The exams are considered a service to Searcy and the surrounding communities,” said Lacy. “There is a lot of learning applications students take from this clinic experience. Students learn about child development, leadership, collaboration with themselves and other disciplines, how to improve their physical exam skills and how to interact with children.”

A great aspect of why Koch became a nursing major was because of the opportunity to work with children. She built an even greater passion in caring for children after her experience with this clinic.

“I loved getting to be a part of Well Child Clinic,” Koch said. “I love working with children, so my entire experience with my pediatric nursing class has been incredible. Getting to spend time improving my nursing skills and also play with children was a perfect day for me.”

In addition, Koch further explained that she found nursing as a perfect gateway for her to serve the people around her.

“I have always been fascinated by medicine and felt called to pursue a career in medicine,” Koch said. “Although, I ultimately chose to study nursing because I believe that it allows me with the opportunity to be the hands and feet of Jesus to people every day. I love that it is a career fully based on serving others. It will give me the opportunity to interact with and impact people who I otherwise never would have. Harding offers an amazing program with teachers, who not only teach you to be incredible nurses, but also teach you to love God first and show him to those around you.”

This serving mentality is what the Well Child Clinic was all about for these students. The opportunity to learn in a real-life situation and fulfill the needs of the community has become a mutual benefit over the past few decades.

“I love that we are able to provide this service for free to members of our community,” Burch said. “I see it as a symbiotic relationship in which we both benefit from the time spent together. The parents and their children get a cost effective check up and are referred if anything appears to need further looking into, such as an abnormal vision screening of a child who could potentially need glasses. I feel that we, as nursing students, may even benefit the most from these clinics because we are working toward practicing and perfecting our health assessment skills.”