At 11 years old, Dino Campisi, a freshman nursing major at Kent State, faced hardship when his father got into a motorcycle accident, leaving him paralyzed. He was in the hospital for roughly six months before he was transported to a nursing home. 

In 2020, his father suffered a brain hemorrhage in his sleep at one of his nursing homes, and on May 1, 2020, his father died. 

This was during the pandemic’s beginning, and people were just beginning to social distance. It was a time of uncertainty and doubt. Unfortunately, Campisi could not say goodbye to his father in person to follow COVID-19 protocols. 

However, throughout his father’s treatment, Campisi was introduced to the clinical world and got experience of what it was like to work in a hospital.   

“I was exposed to all of that stuff at a young age,” he said. 

As a result, he felt inspired and developed a passion for the clinical setting. He was torn between choosing the nursing path or finance, but throughout his father’s journey, his determination to become a nurse became prevalent.

“It really made me have a drive for the field,” he said. 

Nurses inspire many; they change the lives of individuals throughout their hospital visits and comfort their loved ones in vulnerable times. It is not uncommon for people to become motivated to pursue a degree they have a personal connection to, which is a prominent drive in the nursing field.  

The College of Nursing strives to be a program that prepares students for their successful life in medicine. 

Loretta Aller, assistant professor for the College of Nursing and chair for the Patient Safety Simulation Group, explained that the percentage of nurses leaving their field after two years increased from 25% to 27.7% in 2022. 

Aller studies nursing education, where she gets to the root of students’ making patient care decisions and handling the emotions of self-doubt and anxiety in the field. 

According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, “Data from AACN’s Fall 2022 survey show that enrollment in BSN programs declined by 1.4% or 3,518 students from 2021 to 2022.” 

According to College of Nursing Special Assistant Terrie Adams, faculty of the nursing program at Kent work hard to ensure that their nursing students feel comfortable and prepared to excel in their field beyond college so that drop rates do not continue to rise.  

Adams expressed her gratitude for the nursing program faculty, stating the staff genuinely care.

The staff is “very in tune with their students,” Adams said. 

According to Adams, the nursing staff will reach out to the advisors and share their concerns if a student is skipping class and ask if they could reach out. Often, the students are asked if they need help or even desire a leave of absence. 

She also mentioned the faculty is highly receptive and understands that undergraduate students cannot learn everything. 

“Because our nurses are very prepared, when we go to a facility, they’ll say, ‘Oh yeah, I’ll definitely take Kent nurses because when they come in, they know what they’re doing,’” Adams said. 

The nursing field is inevitably physically and mentally challenging, especially for new students in the major. The course load and intense material can be overwhelming. 

However, the benefits of a nurse go beyond the stress and hard work. The joy of changing someone’s life fuels many nurses’ motivation to continue.

“You get to see somebody being born, or you get to be able to say, ‘You get to go home today!’ so there are real highs, and there are very many lows,” Adams said. 

Angie Mitchell, Campisi’s mother, was overwhelmed with joy when she learned that her son wanted to pursue a career in nursing. 

Her family has a history in the field, as her sister and two nieces are registered nurses. 

“For him to follow suit and do that as well, it really made me happy,” she said. 

Nurses go to school for years to gain the knowledge expected of them to achieve complex medical tasks. Nonetheless, nurses are known for being the human aspect of the hospital.

Families who are alongside the journey of a loved one in critical care get to experience the love nurses have to offer beyond medicine and treatment. 

“Nurses are kind of like the first responders before the doctors,” Mitchell said. 

Mitchell has a good outlook on her son’s future in the nursing field. She knows her son is entering a workforce that impacts lives every day.

“The compassion they have for their patients, their willingness to help them, means a lot,” she said. 

Sarah Petrovich is a Reporter. Contact her at [email protected].