Project Access Northwest has been collaborating with the Seattle University College of Nursing since 2018. This partnership has become an annual tradition and a positive way to offer students exposure to real-time nursing experience.
This past September, we welcomed four Advanced Practice Nursing Immersion (APNI) students to join this program:
- Katherine Martin, pursuing a Family Nurse Practitioner track
- Janeesa Northcott, pursuing a Family Nurse Practitioner track
- Taylor Walczykowski, pursuing a Family Nurse Practitioner track
- Ashley Willian, pursuing an Acute Care track
These nursing students worked on a project focused on Z codes: what they are, how they are used in the health care system, and how they might impact an individual’s health care journey.
Z codes were established in 2015 as a standardized set of codes for diagnosis, procedures, symptoms, and related health problems. They are designed to help better understand each individual patient and address the various social determinants of health.
From September through December, the interns spent each Thursday with staff to pull patient referrals to work from. These referrals were pulled from patients in King, Kitsap and Snohomish counties. Before their research began, they established guidelines to help focus their work. The guidelines included basic patient demographics, diagnosis and reason for referral, comorbidities, applicable Z-Codes for the patient, what they wanted to see in their referral, and any potential barriers to a patient receiving treatment.
Our RNs on staff, Andrea Castell and Heather Van Der Wal, dedicated time to work with the students and share their vast knowledge and expertise gained from their years of experience. Molly James, Specialty Care program director, oversaw the students and the program.
We are really proud of the work these students achieved during their time with us. We can’t wait to see the positive impact they have on the future of the health care landscape.