Carthage nursing is truly special because our students are dedicated to making a difference.

Here at Carthage, a unique aspect of our program is that students begin their laboratory and clinical hours at the beginning of sophomore year.

Here at Carthage, the direct admin program, you start doing nursing classes as soon as your sophomore year.

So it's setting you up right away to start your clinicals and getting, like hands on experience, like right away. So that was a really big green light for me.

Direct Entry means that you can make your decision right away to be in the nursing program.

This means that you have security knowing that this is your home.

Direct Entry is also a benefit, because you do not need to worry about applying to the nursing program after your first year within the college, I chose Carthage because the Direct Entry Program.

There was a lot of schools I applied to, and they're like, welcome to our school. Happy to have you, but you can apply to the nursing program.

I like that. Carthage wanted me to be in their program right from the start, starting in sophomore year, students touch patients lives when they do their clinicals.

With clinicals starting them early was really nice, because you start to try and learn those real world things that like they can't sit down and teach you like this is how you set up an IV pump.

You're actually going to be in the field in a hospital, working with other nurses who are experienced the skills that I picked up during clinicals, I would say, are probably the most of my skills that I picked up as a nurse through the expertise and compassion of our Carthage nursing faculty students are guided to positively impact patients, families and communities.

I had the same instructor for two of my clinicals using the Navy prior and he was a flight nurse, so if the skills that he brought to the table and his knowledge to just feed and learn off of was amazing experience within the lab, students learn health assessment, person centered care as well as nursing intervention skills that will benefit them for the rest of their careers, cartha just prepared me to be a nurse in the skills lab, especially, we have eight different mannequins that we practice on doing different skills, like injections, IVs, taking blood pressure, simple things like that.

So just being able to practice on a non human before we practice on a human just builds up our confidence with a combination of in person and simulation hours, students are able to weave their academic learning with their clinical practice.

They are guided by our expert faculty in no more than a one faculty member to eight student ratio.

This means that students have the opportunity to repeat the skills until they feel confident to be able to go into the live healthcare world.

The reason that Carthage is the right nursing school for people to attend is the small class sizes.

The faculty to student ratio is critical.

When it comes to a career like nursing you're dealing with life, being able to ask questions and have a professor there for you to see guidance as super important.

I like how the professors at Carthage really go into depth on a topic and really elaborate on certain topics so that everyone in the room can understand it.

In the liberal arts tradition, we provide nursing education that is focused on whole person, care, body, mind and spirit that is rooted in excellence and compassion.

We have the honor of caring for human beings, and the responsibility of that honor is great.

So in Carthage nursing, we root our excellent practice and compassion because our patients deserve the best nurse that a student can be.

Carissa Kiehl ’25

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