BALTIMORE — Giving first-hand experience for the next generation of nurses, The University of Maryland Medical System runs the unique nurse led program in eight of its hospitals called ACE.
It prepares students for their careers by going into the hospital for hands on experience.
Once a week for nurse Lyla Lough, her 12 hour shift is used to teach a group of nursing students from Towson University.
She's part of University of Maryland Medical System's nurse staffing and education initiative called ACE, the Academy of Clinical Essentials.
"We're looking at our current nurses at the bedside who had a desire for education. It was a way to help combat some of the needs for clinical instructors in the community we have a bit of a shortage there,” said Leah Wolferman who is the Nurse Manager at St. Joseph Medical Center.
Wolferman is part of the creation of the program. It's the second year the initiative has run at UM St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson. She said it allows students to participate in everything the nurse instructor is doing to care for the patient, from checking vitals to helping with activities of daily living.
"Someone working on the unit is providing the instruction. It's actually going back in time a little bit this is something that the old schools of nursing used to do,” said Wolferman.
This cohort has four students, for one of them, Heaven Tuffar it's getting to see what a full day on the job will be like.
"We do everything and I wasn't expecting to see all the chaos and madness. I mean it's good to see and I love it to see how the hospital functions but that was definitely the most surprising thing to me,” said Tuffar.
Although this is only the third week for this group, ACE Nurse Instructor Lough has already seen improvements.
"They've just progressed so much from the first day they had a lot of questions versus to now they're starting to be more independent and more confident in themselves,” said Lough.
Even some of the patients saw the enthusiasm.
"The girls, the students that I’ve met are kind, they are ready eager to learn and ready to go,” said Antoinette Joyner who is a patient at UM St. Joseph Medical Center.
This spring there will be 91 nurse led ACE cohorts across UMMS hospitals. With 10 nursing schools that are offering the ACE experience to students.
