Class Year: 2023
Program: Bachelor of Science in Nursing
As students return to campus for the new academic year, many are reflecting on a summer filled with valuable real-world educational experiences. Clara Ahn is one of those students: She participated in a nurse associate externship in Cleveland Clinic’s Main Campus vascular surgery operating room.
Ahn said the 10-week program built her confidence in circulating and scrubbing and allowed her to explore many aspects of nursing beyond her assigned unit, including the emergency department, medical and surgical ICUs, and transplant units.
Ahn first heard about the program from her professors, and credits her experience at Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing for preparing her for an operating room (OR) externship.
CWRU is “one of the few nursing programs that offers an OR clinical rotation,” she shared. “Thus, I had a foundation of knowledge coming into the OR setting.”
By the end of the summer, Ahn completed 400 clinical hours, built interprofessional relationships and got to work side by side with some of the nation’s top nurses and surgeons.
“It was truly amazing for me to see how much an impact a nurse can make in healthcare. This experience will not only help me in my final year in nursing school but will also benefit me long term in my future nursing career,“ said Ahn.
Ahn’s advice to other students is to take notes, be actively engaged, ask questions, have a positive attitude and to learn to say “yes” to the opportunities given to you.