The red siren blares over the loudspeakers, wailing and screaming. Emergency in room 8! There is a sick patient waiting to be cured, and future nursing students around the world are needed to try and learn how to help them.

This is what the competition HOSA is. Every year, Health Occupations Students of America holds multiple competitions around the country for students looking to get involved in nursing. 

GlenOak’s own nursing program goes to HOSA every year.

“Even though it is a requirement for the class, most people see it as a fun opportunity and friendly competition,” senior Rylie McLaughlin said.

There are three sections of the competition, regionals, states, and nationals, which this year will be located at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

Many nurses from GlenOak have been qualified for nationals this year. In personal care, junior Karlie Boron and junior Emani Poole both qualified. In life support, junior Madison Lea,  junior Kaitlyn Bron, and junior Kaylei Moffat all qualified. In medical terminology, senior Tia Kendrick qualified and won second, and finally, in medical reading, McLaughlin won first.These are only a few of the many students that qualified this year.

“The school doesn’t fund us going to nationals, so we have to raise about $100 a person to be able to go,” Poole said. “Many people are considering it but I don’t think they will all end up going because of the cost and college.”

The competition is a big one for nursing students, with a multitude of different fields to go in.

One section would be performing face-to-face operations in front of a panel of judges.

In the skills test, the contestants are required to study a packet with all of the operations, and go through a set of tests to show your knowledge.

“In my opinion, splinting or severe bleeding are definitely the easiest skills tests to do,” Lea said.

Skills that are shown in these tests include performing operations on dolls,  and watching videos of the operations being done and having to find what is wrong with it.

“I like the skills test because we have to study a paper given to us that has a step by step on what to do,while on the test you really don’t know what to study,” Bron said. “My favorite skill is autonomy bags because it’s something I’ve never really experienced before.”

The other section of the competition would be online tests, which some students prefer more than having to be in front of the judges. 

“I prefer written tests because having to perform skills in front of a panel of judges is really nerve wracking,” McLaughlin said. 

According to students in the nursing program who choose the online tests, over 20 hours are dedicated just to study time.

“We have to read five  books with terminology in them, so reading and memorizing those takes a lot of our time up,” Kendrick said. “Every Friday is purely dedicated to studying.”

Like the skills test, there are many branches students  can choose from in this area.

Some of these include medical terminology, sports medicine and pathophysiology, which is the study of diseases and how they affect the body.

If a student doesn’t like their topic, or would prefer to do the other event, they are allowed to change from one to another throughout the year.

“At first I did skills and I really didn’t like it that much so I changed to the tests and am now going to nationals,” McLaughlin said.

But even though people choose different competitions, they all have the same basic competition structure with all of the upcoming nurses coming to the same place.

All in all, students are ready to participate in the nearing national competition coming up soon.

Nationals are set to be June 23 to June 26 this year, ready to welcome schools from around America to prove their medical knowledge in a competitive way.