VA-STEP gives nursing students on-the-job training at Dole VA

While new this year at our facility, VA-STEP has been offered by national VA for more than 20 years. 
 

The program awards clinical residencies for Bachelor of Science in Nursing students between their junior and senior year.
It is designed to increase participants’ clinical skills, clinical judgment, and critical thinking.
 

Nurse Educator Jeremy Pozzi said the five students currently in VA-STEP are paired with staff RNs who act as preceptors throughout the program.
 

“It allows us to pick the cream of the crop and guide them through their education,” Pozzi said. “We want nurses trained specifically to care for Veterans, so we get to influence their training with hands-on experience and one-on-one mentorship.”

The inaugural VA-STEP cohort comprises students from bachelor nursing programs at Wichita State and Newman University. 
 

They spend 400 hours working alongside their preceptors during summer break and are paid a stipend equal to 80% of a level one nurse.
 

Dole VA’s program was recently granted the ability to offer an additional 400 hours during the participants’ senior year.
The rigorous application process and ensuing year of on-the-job training gives nurse managers in-depth knowledge of each student, especially their ability to work under pressure, interact with their Veteran patients, and thrive as an active part of VA culture. 
 

It also gives the students a chance to see what working at a VA hospital is all about. Pozzi said it enhances participants’ perceptions of VA. 
 

“It’s like a year-long cultural fit interview, so by the time we make a job offer, both parties know exactly what the position entails,” Pozzi said. 
 

“We are the first VAMC in VISN-15 to offer the VA-STEP program, and already we are getting questions about how it’s going from hospitals in Wichita who want to replicate it.”