Rebecca Schamel was in the preceptorship of her nursing program at Barnes-Jewish College Goldfarb School of Nursing when the pandemic hit. Rather than finish their preceptorships in the hospital, nursing students were given two options: work through case studies online or volunteer at a COVID-19 testing site for BJC HealthCare. Schamel, who grew up in a family of nurses, volunteered.
“I went back and forth a bit but felt it was an opportunity to be a part of something the world hasn’t seen in a long time,” she says.
Schamel began not knowing what to expect, but she quickly fell into a routine. Each morning began with a meeting to assign jobs for the day. Each day ended with a meeting in which the team discussed what went well and what needed to be changed for the next day. Along the way, Schamel observed “how much the process changed and improved. It taught me a lot about how flexible nurses have to be to adapt each day,” she says.
Schamel graduated in April and began her first official day on the general surgery floor at Barnes-Jewish Hospital on June 1.
“Although it wasn’t anticipated, I wouldn’t change how my nursing career started,” says Schamel. “I think it’s given me a positive advantage to be able to witness how health care has had to come together through all of this.”
