By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–Five Union City High School students stayed the course and were rewarded recently with their Patient Care Technician Certification.
Brooklyn Murphy, Elizabeth Pina, Nakyah Yarbrough, Ava Javellana, and Caitlyn Hoffman obtained their PCTC after passing a 120-question test that culminated four years of classroom preparation in the area of Nursing Services.
Those students began their classroom preparation with teacher Teka Kennedy in Health Science Education and concluded their journey with Nursing Education instructor Jessica Tuck. They took the final nursing requirements in courses such as Anatomy and Physiology, Medical Therapeutics, and Nursing Education.
Robbed of the opportunity to go into a patient-care setting due to COVID restrictions early in their training, the students were faced with the extra challenge of having only lecture/bookwork instruction as well as in-class assimilations, and videos as instructional tools over their high school tenure.
Mrs. Tuck was able to prep these students well, however, which resulted in good outcomes on the pass/fail rate for the CPCT.
“I am incredibly proud of this group of girls,” Tuck said. “They’ve put in so much effort to prepare for this test, and their dedication has truly paid off.“
With the growing need for health care providers, UCHS has taken on the challenge of preparing its young people for this career option. In doing so, teachers have challenged nursing students to demonstrate knowledge gained by taking the exam and becoming Certified Patient Care Technicians.
Doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals rely on Patient Care Technicians/Assistants to assist with the critical day-to-day care that some patients require.
The CPCT/A provides hands-on assistance to serve the patients’ basic needs, as well as work alongside other healthcare professionals.
More and more patients require special care — sometimes around the clock. Needs vary from patient to patient, making it vital that the Patient Care Technician/Assistant has a diverse range of knowledge and skills to provide basic care.
The training and ultimate certification enhances our medical field and strengthens our post-secondary opportunities.
School officials hope to resume the in-person part of the program in the near future.
“As we enhance our program, we would love to get our seniors back into patient-care facilities so they can benefit from hands-on experiences,” UC Schools Career Counselor Lisa Carson said.