CAMP PENDLETON , CALIFORNIA –
Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton graduated six nurses from the Nurse Residency Program during a graduation ceremony held Monday, Jan. 27, 2025, in the hospital galley meeting room aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton.
The residency program is administered by the Directorate of Nursing Services and is co-chaired by Lt. Cmdr. Samantha Knight and Lt. Mary Hinson.
The program runs quarterly throughout the year and covers several areas of the hospital.
“Our Nurse Residency Program is 12 weeks long with rotations and cross-training to several departments across the hospital including laboratory, post-anesthesia care unit, ambulatory procedure unit, intensive care unit; and the emergency department,” said Knight, a clinical nurse specialist in the hospital’s intensive care unit.
The nurse residents are beginning their military nursing career here at NHCP.
“Many of the nurses assigned to Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton have recently graduated from their respective nursing programs and passed state licensure exams,” said Navy Capt. Sara Naczas, director for nursing services. “They come to us directly from their initial officer training.
During the graduation and capstone event, officiated by Naczas, each graduating nurse presented a brief to the Nurse Executive Council and DNS leadership.
According to Knight, the briefs are “on a process improvement, quality improvement, or evidence-based practice initiative identified during the four weeks on their assigned unit of the Nurse Residency Program. Their first unit assignment is typically on the mother-infant unit, multi-service ward, or emergency department.”
Graduating from the program this quarter were Lt. jg. Princess Ekudi, Ensign Madison Harrison, Ensign Raquel Kauthen, Ensign Jimmy Manikhong, Ensign Izabela Marasco, and Ensign Luciana Poka.
For 250 years, Navy Medicine – represented by more than 44,000 highly-trained military and civilian healthcare professionals – has delivered quality healthcare and enduring expeditionary medical support to the warfighter on, below, and above the sea, and ashore.