Students Nursing pricking in large numbers
In a practicum classroom of Nursery in Nijmegen, a group of students sit together round Nursery teacher Nelleke van Tempel. They all get special instructions about vaccinating against the Mexican flu. These ten students are part of the group of hundred and thirty Nursery students who will vaccinate all eighteen thousand children between six months and four years in the region twice in the following weeks.
Unique experience
The Municipal Health Services region Nijmegen is responsible for this task and had in a earlier stage already asked the Nursery of the HAN to place students on this job. All principal phase-students were approached. Why does Nursery want to join, and why are the students so helpful? Institute director Caroline van Mierlo answers: ‘It is a unique experience for students. After the job is done, they will all get a certificate, a nice part of their portfolio. They also get an extracurricular study point. This will, like a foreign traineeship, be mentioned on the diploma.
Extra instruction
The students don’t get a recompense, but a extra instruction. This vaccination has another method than the students have learned of so far. This means a whole week of instructions. Does the HAN receive money from Municipal Health Services? Van Mierlo: ‘We do our job because of our social role. We are involved in the society and we have direct connections with health foundations in our region. They sometimes ask us: can you help us out if some people here drop out? Then it becomes a different story of course, but we always look if we can support others. The study Nursery wants guarantee of quality and retrains the students. In the classroom, the ten students sit in the middle of ampoules and injection needles. Teacher Nelleke says: ‘You don’t get placed for four hours only to hear and see screaming children. You won’t be able to cope with that. You will get other tasks too. When she shows where the needle must be placed, four fingers under the shoulder-blade, she says: ‘If you decide today that you might have a hard time, you can still decide not to participate.’ But the ten students don’t like they will drop out. Extremely concentrated they watch teacher Nelleke erecting the injective-liquid.
