Shanna Costin knows you can’t take someone’s pulse with your thumb — because then you might be feeling your own pulse. That was part of what she learned in a four-week Nursing Skills 101 summer camp.
Costin (pictured, on the right) was asked if she knew how to find her pulse, since many health professionals seem to have a hard time finding it. She got it right away, noting that it’s a no-no to lay on a thumb.
Costin was demonstrating what she learned as one of eight students recruited to the program by Tanya Abdul-Karim Williams, a registered nurse who laid out three goals for her summer effort: to prepare young people for college-level work; to address health disparities and help students discover predisposing factors to illness and disease; and to promote an interest in nursing.
Williams (pictured) earned her R.N. at Gateway Community College after eturning to her studies after deployment from 2003 to 2005 with the National Guard, including a year in Iraq.
She said many nursing students drop out because they’re not prepared for the level of difficulty in the R.N. program. She hastened to add about her own summer program, “I’m not trying to make them nurses, just successful nursing students.” Each student paid $200 for the four-week, 80-hour program, which covered expenses such as CPR classes, honoraria for some speakers, and copying. Williams volunteered her time.
Williams, a school nurse at Career High, recruited her first batch of students mostly through personal contacts. The eight African-American girls came from New Haven, West Haven, Hamden and Beacon Falls. They met at the adult education center on the Boulevard; every Friday they traveled to the North Haven Gateway Community College campus, where the nursing director let them use the clinical lab. Both venues were made available free of charge.
Course work included primers on anatomy and physiology, CPR, taking vital signs, and critical thinking — or, as Williams called it, “learning to think like a nurse.” They discussed learning styles so students would be aware of how they best learn. Williams invited a number of health professionals to address the students, and arranged a tour of Yale New Haven Hospital, where she said a number of employees told her they wished they’d had an opportunity like Nursing Skills 101 to smooth their career path.
Williams developed an interest in starting a program like this when, after becoming a nurse, she helped her father, Dr. Abdul Majid Karim Hasan, put together a health awareness advisory council to address health concerns in the community. Her faither is the imam, or spiritual leader, of the Muhammad Islamic Center on Dixwell Avenue on the Hamden/New Haven line.
Costin, a senior at Hamden High School, said that what she learned about her own health risk factors — for diabetes, stroke and heart disease — has already led to changes in her behavior.
“I need to exercise more and eat better,” she said. She switched from drinking soda to water, and has started eating smaller portions and walking the track at Hamden High with her younger sister, who also took the class.
Costin said she already had an interest in nursing, but the program “made me want to do it more.” She doesn’t want to stop there — she’s set her sights on becoming a doctor, although she’s not sure what kind.
Williams said half the girls are interested in medical school. She urged them to get their two-year R.N. degree first, then pursue the years-long medical training from the position of a health professional. She herself would like to earn an APRN (advanced practice registered nurse, what used to be called nurse practitioner) degree. That allows more autonomy, including prescribing medications.
The students participated in a “completion ceremony” — Williams was careful not to call it “graduation” — on Aug. 14 at the Islamic Center. The girls each received a pink stethoscope and a pair of scrubs as gifts. Williams said she hopes to get more funding for next year, so she can get a bus to take students to the North Haven Gateway campus and to provide each student with a kit including a blood pressure cuff, thermometer and stethoscope.
Most of the students were rising sophomores. Williams has plans to run Nursing Skills 102 and 103 in subsequent summers, covering subjects such as math for medications, which she said was the downfall of many an aspiring nursing student. She plans to offer 101 again next year, too. She said she hopes to recruit a dozen students, including, she hopes, some boys. She can be reached at 809‑2547.