Community Service: Undergraduate Nursing Students Perspectives on Participating in a RAM Clinic 

Submitted by Dr. Judith Williams, PhD, MSN, MS, RN-BC; Dr. Andrea Mantione, DNP, MSN-NP, RN

Community Service: Undergraduate Nursing Students Perspectives on Participating in a RAM Clinic 

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Community service allows individuals to positively impact specific societal groups while fostering relationships with those in need. It offers opportunities for personal growth and self-discovery of one's abilities and talents. Dedicating time and skills to community-oriented organizations and individuals contributes to the overall well-being of their communities and enhances their character attributes and sense of purpose. Additionally, community service addresses urgent social issues and fills gaps where institutional resources may fall short. What benefits does community service provide to Undergraduate Senior Nursing (UGSN) students? Undergraduate nursing education and service learning are widely supported by various principles upheld by professional nursing organizations. The National League for Nursing (NLN), American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), American Nurses Association (ANA), and Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI) emphasize that service learning helps nursing students develop critical thinking skills and a deeper understanding of their role in improving public health and addressing health disparities. These organizations encourage nursing schools to integrate community service and hands-on learning to help students grow into compassionate, competent, and ethical nurses. Professional organizational principles typically focus on developing well-rounded, capable, and socially responsible nurses, highlighting the importance of merging academic learning with real-world community service. Several studies indicate that nursing students' participation in community service has enhanced their nursing skills. These skills encompass communication, teamwork, knowledge, and critical thinking (Mumba et al., 2022; Zeydan et al., 2021; Marcilla-Toribio et al.). By developing these skills, nursing students forge connections with diverse community members, work collaboratively to meet their needs, demonstrate their knowledge in identifying health-related issues, and utilize critical thinking and reasoning to make clinical decisions (Mumba et al., 2022; Zeydan et al., 2021; Marcilla-Toribio et al.). Community service promotes a sense of responsibility for the health and well-being of community members, as evidenced by UGSN students at Wilkes University engaging in a community service event for the Remote Area Medical (RAM) clinic. Remote Area Medical, a Tennessee-based nonprofit organization, is committed to providing free healthcare- including medical, dental, vision, and social services- to underserved and underinsured clients both nationally and internationally.

The RAM organization's standard of care merges high-quality healthcare with compassion and teamwork from supporters, partners, and practitioners (RAM, 2024). For a RAM pop-up clinic to thrive, a dedicated team of volunteers with diverse backgrounds and interests must come together to support the organization's mission within their local and extended community. Professional healthcare workers and volunteers commit to hard work and long hours. They come together to support the mission of the RAM clinic, which aims to prevent discomfort and alleviate the suffering of many clients (RAM, 2024). In collaboration with community leaders, the RAM organization sets up pop-up clinics and recruits licensed healthcare volunteers and support staff to provide services at each free event. The RAM organization offers nursing students opportunities to engage in community service at various locations across the U.S. and internationally. Nursing students can apply their knowledge and skills by demonstrating their expertise in the RAM clinic's triage, dental, vision, and medical areas. 

As UGSN students assess different attendees, they draw on their nursing knowledge and skills in communication, growth and development, physiological normalcy and disorders, psychological disorders and coping techniques, effective interventions, interpersonal skills, and fostering therapeutic relationships with attendees, staff, and other healthcare personnel. One of the UGSN students expressed this connection: the...medical professionals...were amazing...very nice...very willing to teach...understanding small mistakes made were always corrected with constructive criticism. For two full 12-hour days, senior undergraduate nursing students from Wilkes University rotated through various areas of the RAM Clinic. They started in the Triage area, where some students conducted assessments, monitored vital signs, and performed blood sugar and coagulation tests and could practice assessment, medication administration, and communication skills... I was able to practice taking vital signs, triaging, and conducting both general and focused assessments with patients, noted a nursing student reflecting on how she utilized her nursing knowledge and made clinical judgments (see Appendix for survey results). Other students guided attendees to the appropriate healthcare area while faculty representatives were present in each section. As the medical area grew busier, some students assisted healthcare providers with intake assessments, interventions, medications, and discharge instructions. One student conveyed that this opportunity enhanced her therapeutic communication by helping her develop a better way to ask patients questions about their chief complaints and other concerns Collaboration among healthcare professionals including senior undergraduate nursing students, RNs, NPs, and MD fosters professional relationships that promote cohesiveness, respect, and teamwork, as expressed by a student who stated, provided reports on patients to the physicians. I felt like an important part of the care team. I was taken seriously. 

At the end of the final day of the RAM Clinic, the UGSN students worked together to dismantle all of the healthcare areas. They commented on how organized and detail-oriented the RAM Clinic volunteer leaders were in ensuring that the equipment was documented, sanitized, and packed into the appropriate containers. The students reflected on this process with comments like,...staff were helpful, very nice, and really appreciated us coming to help them...the organization of this process was both impressive and thorough. The opportunity for senior undergraduate nursing students offers a chance for professional growth, personal development, and the self-discovery of qualities like empathy, gratitude, and compassion. This is reflected in the comments from the UGSN students: "... my biggest takeaway personally... is to care for patients holistically... we learn about it in school... but it's not often during the clinical experience that we get to be a part of every single aspect of the patients care. The UGSN students concluded that they had made a meaningful difference in the lives of those who visited the RAM clinic. Participating in community service enables UGSN nursing students to enhance their professional and personal growth. These students exhibit empathy, compassion, and appreciation for diverse backgrounds by raising awareness and understanding social issues. As one UGSN student noted,... participating in RAM Clinical allowed me to better understand the struggles of community health and how concerned people truly are about their health. Another UGSN student reflected on challenging her abilities, stating, was valuable in that it immersed me into an unfamiliar situation and pushed me to use my knowledge to engage with patients and providersI would 100% recommend this experience to other students. Community service opportunities empower UGSN students to build upon their nursing knowledge, technical skills, communication techniques, and critical thinking abilities, thereby enhancing public health, improving nursing education, and fostering leadership in nursing practice. 

 

References    

  • Marcilla-Toribio, I., Moratalla-Cebrián, M. L., Bartolomé-Guitierrez, R., Cebada-Sánchez, S., Galán-Moya, E. M., & MartÃ-nez-AndrÃs, M. (2022). Impact of Service-Learning educational interventions on nursing students: An integrative review. Nurse Education Today, 116, 105417.

  • Mumba, M. N., Kaylor, S. K., Townsend, H., Barron, K., & Andrabi, M. (2022). Improving confidence in clinical assessment skills through service-learning experiences among nursing students. Journal of Nursing Education, 61(5), 272-275. RAM (2024). Preventing pain and alleviating suffering. Author. https://www.ramusa.org/about-ram/ 

  • Zeydani, A., Atashzadeh-Shoorideh, F., Abdi, F., Hosseini, M., Zohari-Anboohi, S., & Skerrett, V. (2021). Effect of community-based education on undergraduate nursing students skills: A systematic review. BMC Nursing, 20, 1-12.