Senior nursing major Lauren Scheuer was featured last spring for her dual nursing assistant roles at both Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children and Penn Medicine. This year, she moved up in her career by becoming a nurse extern in Penn Medicine’s Critical Care Unit.

“I was able to move up at Penn Medicine by my former nurse manager’s recommendation that I apply to the nurse extern program,” Scheuer says. She applied to externships with multiple units and was offered positions with both the emergency department and critical care. “I believe there were only six or seven extern positions available in the hospital, so I was very excited. I ultimately chose the Critical Care Unit because it aligns more closely with my goals of working on an inpatient unit.”

Scheuer didn’t start her new externship until June 2020 but was still working as a nursing assistant through the spring. During the start of the pandemic, Scheuer was assigned to a COVID-19 unit. “That was an eye-opening experience and forever changed the way I look at nursing,” she says. “I don’t think I truly understood the severity of the disease until I worked on those units. I saw more patients die this spring than some nurses do their entire career.”

The outbreak hit healthcare workers like Scheuer the hardest with an emotional toll, as well as the depletion of much-needed resources. “What we learned about PPE was kind of thrown out the window due to the PPE shortage; I was using the same N95 mask for months,” Scheuer says. “This taught me how important it is to work together with your team. I remember being in COVID rooms for over an hour at a time doing patient care and relying on my co-workers to bring me supplies so I didn’t have to don and doff my PPE.”

Even post-promotion at Penn, Scheuer continues to work on the Hematology/Oncology Unit at Nemours, which has led her to take more precautions in her personal life. “All of my Nemours patients are immunocompromised,” she says. “I am extra cautious in my life outside of work and keep my bubble of people very small, so I don’t risk exposure to COVID.”

In her new position and unit, Scheuer’s duties have evolved. She notes that the Penn Critical Care Unit is much more fast-paced than her former Clinical Decision Unit. Paired with a registered nurse, she performs as a RN herself, completing head-to-toe assessments, nursing interventions and charts. Everything is supervised and co-signed by her RN. “I’ve been lucky to have such a great experience with the nurses,” she says. “They challenge me, but also support me.”

But Scheuer still feels a newfound sense of independence in her role.

“I often round on my patients myself and report back to the nurse,” she says. “Talking to patients and asking focused questions helped me learn so much and identify my strengths and weaknesses. I also get to do some patient education and discharge teaching. You never really know something until you have to teach it to someone else, and I’ve learned how to explain concepts in layman’s terms.”

As a graduating senior, Scheuer certainly has her hands full with two positions. She worked at Penn full-time over the summer, but during the school year only works two weekends per month. Year-round, she works about two shifts per month at Nemours, but is often picking up even more when help is needed on her unit.

“It’s been hard to find time to pick up extra shifts this semester due to clinical three days per week,” Scheuer says. “Juggling two jobs on top of classwork isn’t easy. It takes a lot of time management and sacrifices. I work 12-hour shifts at both jobs and have clinical Wednesday through Friday. If I work the weekend, that usually means I have to stay up late after work, filling out patient assessments, medication sheets or writing a journal.”

While UD’s virtual and asynchronous classes this semester may seem like a blessing for her schedule, Scheuer says the opposite is true. “The virtual setting has made it harder to balance work and school because it’s harder to stay on top of schoolwork without physically being in a classroom each week,” she says.

But the hands-on experience Scheuer is gaining makes it all worthwhile. “Working these two jobs while being a student has been the best decision ever and I don’t regret it at all,” she says. “Work helped me build my skills and knowledge prior to entering clinical. Some students had never been in a hospital unit before clinical, so they were very nervous to talk to patients, but I’m very comfortable in that setting.”

For fellow nursing students and seniors, Scheuer urges pursuing positions now. “Apply for a job in a hospital,” she says. “It’s the best thing I’ve done for my career and success in school. I’m a more confident student because of my work experience.”

Scheuer doesn’t know where she will end up after graduation but hopes to work as an RN at either Penn Medicine or Nemours. Either way, her career options look solid. “Penn Medicine actually guarantees me an RN job at the hospital, but they can’t guarantee the unit,” she says. “I also absolutely love working in pediatrics and will be applying to RN jobs at Nemours, too. I’ve loved getting to work in both places and I’m excited to see where I end up.”