National Park College (NPC) hosted a recruitment event for the University of Arkansas
Medical Sciences (UAMS) earlier this week. 60 Registered Nurse (RN) students, 30 Practical
Nurse (PN) students, and seven faculty members listened to RN recruiter Susan Erickson,
and Trenda Ray, Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) of UAMS discuss benefits, orientation
process, nursing units hiring new grads, the preceptor program, tuition discounts
to obtain BSN, and general recruiting information.
“Trenda graduated from Garland County Community College in 1993 with her Associate
Degree in Nursing and continued her education until she obtained her Ph.D. For the
CNO of a prestigious hospital in Arkansas, UAMS, to come and recruit our students
was exciting. For the students to see someone that graduated from the same program
that they will and has achieved what she has is motivation for students to achieve
their goal. For the CNO to come and recruit students is not common and coming from
Little Rock is impressive, it showed the students how important they are to nursing,”
said nursing faculty Tina Ennis.
“As a current employee of UAMS for almost 10 years, it was very inspiring to see Trenda
here speaking to all of our students. Hearing the information that Trenda and Susan
shared was exciting and motivating. Knowing that UAMS is the only Level 1 trauma center
in the state and also a teaching facility makes this visit even more special. It is
an amazing place to work and be a part of. Our new nurses need to know that they are
not limited to Hot Springs. There are endless opportunities out there and UAMS would
be an amazing opportunity for any of them as new grads," said Reagan Mitchell, nursing
faculty.
