Two Student Nurses Accepted into VA-STEP Internship Program

Student nurses gain valuable clinical experience and perspective at Nashville's VA hospital this past summer.

Janel Shoun-Smith | 01/16/2023

This past summer, student nurse Molly Zobrist and nursing alumna Mary Higgins (’22) had the opportunity to develop clinical competencies and skills at VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare in Nashville through the VA Student Trainee Experience Program (VA-STEP) program (formerly know as the VALOR program).

For more than 20 years, the VA has offered this clinical residency for BSN students beginning with a 10-week concentrated clinical experience between their junior and senior years. VA-STEP is a paid nursing internship designed to increase participants’ clinical skills, clinical judgment, and critical thinking while caring for our nation’s military veterans. 

This program provides opportunities for learning, including didactic or classroom experiences and clinical practice, with a qualified RN preceptor. Additionally, students can gain valuable insight into what goes into each day when working in medicine. 

“Day-to-day, on-the-ground experience in a hospital is a valuable commodity that not every nursing student has access to,” said Zobrist and Higgins. “However, Lipscomb’s School of Nursing strives to provide as much firsthand clinical experience as possible, including steering eligible students toward the VA-STEP internship, which provides both the opportunity to practice in many different wards and to practice the care themselves while still a student.”

One of Higgins’ favorite experiences was serving in the STEM cell transplant unit (for patients undergoing cancer treatments).

“Working with that population, with veterans of all ages, seeing the treatments they were going through…We really got to know the patients and their families as they went through cancer treatment,” says Higgins. “I had the opportunity to perform the daily tasks of an RN, with my preceptor by my side, like a paid practicum.”

The program also gave her the opportunity to see other parts of the VA, including the medical intensive care unit (ICU), surgical ICU, the operating room, and the emergency department. 

“I was able to do so much more than I could have at a private-sector hospital. It was a learning opportunity to be able to see so much before I even got my license, as well as to get to serve a population that has done so much for this country,” says Higgins. “I felt blessed to be able to give back by serving that population.” 

The VA-STEP program helps students find what nursing field they want to pursue. 

“I had the opportunity to network with people from many different backgrounds. That helped me to find my passion in those areas,” said Higgins. 

Zobrist discovered that she wanted to work in the ICU after being placed on the surgical ICU team for a couple of shifts.

“I noticed how much I liked the ICU,” says Zobrist. “There are so many pieces in a patient’s care, and work in the ICU is like having to fit all the little parts together. There is something about it that feels different. Because nurses only have two or three patients in the ICU unit, they do so many more of the little things,” and get to know the families of the patients more closely.

“I like to do all the medication and the IVs, but there is so much more to it than that,” Zobrist says of intensive care. 

During her internship Zobrist also had the opportunity to observe an open heart surgery, stating that it was one of her favorite experiences she had ever had. 

Zobrist’s next step in her studies is a preceptorship in the neurological ICU unit at Skyline Medical Center. Higgins graduated in December 2022 after completing an extended VA-STEP internship and now works at the VA Tennessee Valley surgical ICU.

“Not a lot of students have the opportunity to have their clinicals at a VA facility. I was able to see a different side of nursing, and I came to the conclusion that the VA is an organization that I want to be a part of,” said Higgins.