CU's School of Nursing, Allied Health, Taylor Regional Hospital host Beyond the Stethoscope

by Gerard Flanagan, lead writer and communications specialist, Office of Marketing and Communications

Campbellsville, KY (08/29/2025) — Nursing students preparing to enter the workforce are likely to feel their options are limited to a handful of fields, such as becoming a registered nurse in a hospital or working in a long-term care facility.

In reality, nursing students have hundreds of different types of jobs in the healthcare industry, whether in the more traditional roles or in more specialized fields like laboratory services and radiology.

To showcase these options, Campbellsville University's School of Nursing recently partnered with the university's Allied Health program and Taylor Regional Hospital in Campbellsville to host Beyond the Stethoscope, a five-day immersive experience bringing 18 prospective nursing students to CU's main campus to show them the many pathways in healthcare. Students from 10 counties in Kentucky, Illinois and Ohio came to Beyond the Stethoscope.

The experience allowed prospective nursing students to see the ins and outs of healthcare beside a hospital bed, in the back of an ambulance, on an AirEvac flight and many other fields. The event's name, Beyond the Stethoscope, sought to emphasize the many pathways in healthcare.

"It goes back to what our goals and our objectives were when we put this grant together and submitted for this grant," Dickens shared. "It was to expose students to health care and what that could mean for them, what pathway they would choose. So holistically not centering on one profession or one school but also coming together and collaborating and what that could look like and the end result of that is where would you be employed? What area in the hospital or clinics could you be employed in?"

Beyond the Stethoscope was made possible through a grant from the Council for Postsecondary Education. In addition to exploring healthcare career options, participants stayed in campus dorms and engaged in social activities hosted by CU's Office of Student Activities, offering a glimpse into college life.

Planning for the event began in January, including outreach to high schools throughout the region and direct communication with guidance counselors to promote the opportunity.

"We got together and decided what the name would be," said Dickens. "Once that was approved, we asked, 'What does Allied Health want to do? What does Taylor Regional want to do? What does the School of Nursing want to do?' From there, we developed the agenda and planned the experience from both academic and student life perspectives."

Students spent three days with the School of Nursing learning about the history of the nursing profession and engaging in simulation experiences to expose students to the nature of caring for patients in a hospital setting. Students also participated in CPR awareness, techniques to stop bleeding and a visit from Air Evac to show patients how to transport a patient in a helicopter.

Students also heard from CU School of Nursing alumni on how to manage stress while going through nursing school.

"How do you manage being in a new environment in a school setting, and how we can help you with that?" Dickens explained. "We want them to have the resources."

CU's Allied Health program showed students an inside look at phlebotomy, radiography and imagine and the world of EMTs and paramedics. Students also learned how to insert IVs and remove and apply sutures and staples and even got an up-close look at the back of ambulance.

"The ambulance opened the back door and let the students go up in the truck to see how the equipment works, took the stretcher out, showed them how to load a patient, answered all their questions about that and we just told them how they could get into our programs and then what career pathways they could have when they get out," Eastham shared.

Dickens emphasized the importance of helping students visualize their future in the healthcare field.

"I was visualizing from start to end how to show someone how they could come into a healthcare field - whatever they chose, whatever their interest was - and end up employed in an organization engaging in the activity they've been trained for," she said.

Eastham echoed that sentiment: "One goal was to introduce students to the many different professions within healthcare. These are high school students. Many may only know about nursing because of a family member, but don't know the full range of Allied Health careers available."

Eastham added, "We also wanted to show students how Campbellsville University provides a full career pathway in healthcare - from education to real-world application - while Taylor Regional brought the clinical side to life through immersive hospital experiences."

Another key element of the program was the on-campus experience.

"We intentionally included activities outside of healthcare," Dickens shared. "From staying in dorms to participating in student life events, we wanted them to see what it's like to be part of the Campbellsville University community."

Even CU's mascot, Clawz, made an appearance on the final day, capping off a week that also included sessions with the university's Enrollment team. Several students expressed their commitment to pursuing healthcare education at CU following the event.

Campbellsville University is a widely acclaimed Kentucky-based Christian university that offers over 100 programs including doctoral, master, bachelor, associate and certificate programs. The website for complete information is www.campbellsville.edu.

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