This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Over the next few weeks, nursing and medical students will be graduating and heading into the workforce during the COVID-19 crisis. 

Some of those graduates are from ECPI University in Greensboro. The university’s nursing curriculum operates under a 5-week term producing several nursing professionals throughout the year.  

“Personally I do not have a fear of working with this pandemic,” said Hunter Mangrum, ECPI 2020 nursing graduate. 

Mangrum is just one of the many recent nursing graduates who are about to go full force into the profession that’s certainly needed to fight off COVID-19. 

“I do take my precautions of hand hygiene. Anything that the U.S. Surgeon has put out, I do,” said Mangrum. 

Director of Clinical Development at ECPI University Judith Fulton says her concern for recent nursing graduates is keeping up with the change.

Fulton teaches clinical courses, and in those courses, they’ve been implementing the COVID-19 pandemic as a real-time learning tool. 

“We are utilizing the COVID-19 news responses to help us critique them or help guide them on their plans for clinical and how they will practice. We go over infection prevention we do the typical things like the didactical lectures but then we do a lot of case studies,” said Fulton over a virtual interview. 

Five out of the 16 in the group have already accepted offers ranging from long-term care facilities to positions in hospital clinics. 

“We did have a lot of discussions every single day up until graduation day last Wednesday about what we need to educate ourselves on, including anything for the safety of others to prevent contact of COVID,”  said Mangrum. 

Fulton says reinforcement was key during her lectures. 

“Implementation of infection prevention…communication and HIPAA…making sure they still honor the client`s right to privacy and dignity and all those things that are the cornerstone of nursing practices,” said Fulton. 

As for Hunter, he’s maintaining healthy hope for the future. 

“I hate that I have to be starting coming into the field of nursing as a nurse in this pandemic but hopefully this will be resolved and lifted pretty soon,” said Hunter.