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Where I Belong

Rachel Senz

Helping to Heal

Clinical Requirements

Rachel’s favorite part of the curriculum is clinical rotations, in which students get experience in hospital work. Students participate in seven clinical rotations during their last two years of study. “We first attend hours of lectures on body systems, disorders and diseases, and drug treatments. It’s great to then apply what we’ve learned and give hands-on patient care,” Rachel says.

A number of area hospitals participate in the program. Rachel completed a maternity clinical and an oncology medical-surgical clinical at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, a pediatric clinical at Saint Peter's University Hospital, mental health at University Behavioral Health Care, and geriatrics at Bartley Healthcare in Jackson.

Practicing on Simulators

Practicing on Dummies

Rutgers students learn how to set up and prime an IV to suctioning a track tube by practicing on state-of-the-art mannequins. When necessary, the computerized human patient simulators can mimic symptoms of illness and distress, make noises, and “speak.”

Helping with Knowledge

Rachel is a member of Rutgers Student Nurses Association. As part of that group “I volunteer at Health Sciences Technology High School in New Brunswick. We teach the students how to check blood pressures and vital signs. We also tell them about the nursing curriculum and what to expect in nursing school.”

After a visit to her ailing grandfather at JFK Medical Center on a winter afternoon in 2009, Rachel Senz decided to study nursing. Slated to graduate in May 2012, Rachel tells how coming to the Rutgers College of Nursing is one of the best decisions she ever made.

 

Family of Knights

When Rachel decided to go to college, she knew it would be Rutgers. “It’s a family tradition. I am the third Scarlet Knight in my family, after my grandfather and older sister,” she says.

Rachel started studying at Rutgers in fall 2008, intending to major in psychology. On New Years Day 2009, her grandfather was admitted to the hospital for lung cancer. “Grandpa was undergoing treatment at JFK, and he was so impressed with the nurses. When I was visiting, he said, ‘Rachel, you should consider becoming a nurse. You’d be good at it.’”

She hadn’t really contemplated such a path, but she mentioned the conversation to her mom, who also saw nursing as a good fit with Rachel’s personality. Rachel wasn’t sure she could handle the pressure of starting afresh as a nursing student.

But as she thought about it, she started to feel more comfortable with the idea. She and her mother started checking out nursing school courses. Rachel was happy to find Rutgers College of Nursing highly ranked.

“That’s when I decided to apply. Rutgers is the best nursing school in the area, and I already felt at home here.” In summer 2009, Rachel enrolled at the College of Nursing.

Helping Hand

“It worked out well. My first semester courses ended up filling some elective slots. I took a winter course and a couple of summer courses and am right on track,” she says.

Now a senior, Rachel juggles school and work at JFK Medical Center as a patient care technician. “I’m a nurse’s aide there. I take blood glucose measurements and vitals, and help the patients feel as comfortable as possible,” she says.

As part of her Rutgers training, Rachel has gotten to witness a baby being born and then care for the baby, sit in on counseling sessions with adolescents and adults, remove IVs from patients, give injections, and attend two hysterectomies. “It’s great to care for patients. I really get to apply what I learned in school and learn how to interact with patients from many different cultures,” Rachel says.

Next semester Rachel will participate in a medical-surgical clinical: “It’s my favorite. I enjoy working with adult patients. I really try to think of them as if they were my parents or sister or grandparents. And I try to treat them how I would want my family to be treated. I started in nursing because of what I saw my grandpa go through with lung cancer and how much he suffered. I go to work and I see other families going through the same trauma and I want to help them."

The Right Path

Rachel is grateful to her grandfather and the fateful request he made: “Grandpa passed away before I could start the nursing program but I am sure he would be very proud of me. I believe everything happens for a reason and this is exactly how I was supposed to figure out my career. Nursing is where I belong.”