CLOVIS, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – It is the first of its kind at Clovis Community Medical Center and only one of five in the state of California: an Emergency Nurse Residency Program.
The program launched back in February 2023 in partnership with the Emergency Nurses Association. Training new registered nurses and providing them with the hands-on training and skills necessary to care for patients in the emergency room.
“I come in every day like I already have a smile on my face,” said Sarah Osterhaus “I’m good with it.”
Osterhaus is one of the 12 in the first cohort.
“It’s wonderful, I know I’m going to make a difference in someone’s life that day. I love that feeling as I walk out of here knowing I did something great,” she said.
Prior to nursing, Sarah worked as a paralegal for more than 20 years and says being part of this residency program has given her a new lease on life.
“I just got tired of law. I did it from the time I was 22 to 44,” she said. “It just didn’t feel right anymore. There was no interest in it. You know how when you go to work every day, you want to be passionate about it, help people, blah, blah, blah. I wasn’t getting that anymore from law.”
Osterhaus went to nursing school, applied for the residency program at Clovis Community, and was accepted.
“I am older than all of them, but they’re fun and they’re smart, and most importantly, they care. They care. Like, that’s such a big deal,” she said.
It was at the residency program where Osterhaus met Carson Brizzee.
“It’s been a great experience to get to work in the E.R. and see how fast-paced it is and see what kind of good we can do in critical situations and in situations that aren’t so critical. And for me, that’s what I got into nursing for. So it’s just been a great experience overall,” said Brizzee.
The program is structured to help brand new nurses who’ve just graduated from nursing school and passed their National Council Licensure Exam or N-Clex.
Jennifer Winters is a clinical nurse educator at Clovis Community and the Emergency Nurse Residency Program Director.
Winters says the program is an important part of building the foundation for better patient care and well-rounded, well-trained nurses at Community.
