Children often make their first career decisions as early as grade school. Although many do not follow through with these original choices, there is concern in the nursing community that school children are no longer considering nursing as a potential first career choice. This presentation will describe one strategy that partnered an educational institution, a middle school, and a professional association to foster awareness of nursing. The goals of this project were to expose middle school children to the variety of opportunities in nursing, explore critical care nursing as a career pathway, and to have fun while learning. In order to accomplish these goals, we partnered with the American Association of Critical Care Nurses to bring a group of middle school children to the National Teaching Institute in May 2002. Fifty 7th and 8th grade children participated in the project. The presentation will describe the planning, implementation, outcomes, and long term follow-up of exposing these children to nursing using formal presentation, guided interactions in the exhibit hall, and souvenirs of the event.
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Sigma Theta Tau International