Ailen Rosales appeared comfortable as she walked the hospital wing, station to station.

She stood bright as a job shadow on a busy morning.

“It’s more than what I expected,” said Rosales, pausing between patients in the intensive care unit at the MultiCare Auburn Medical Center last week. “It’s interesting to see how it works. … It’s always unpredictable. You’re always on your feet.”

Rosales was one of 109 high school students from throughout the South Puget Sound who got a hands-on look at careers in nursing at MultiCare Health System’s 12th annual Nurse Camp July 20-24.

During the five-day camp, students tried out medical devices, performed “Skittlectomies” on mannequins, practiced suturing on pig kidneys and shadowed professional nurses and other health care professionals in various departments at MultiCare’s five hospitals – Auburn, Tacoma General Hospital, Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital and Health Center in Tacoma, Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup, and Allenmore Hospital in Tacoma.

The camp was everything and more to Rosales, 16, a junior-to-be at Kent-Meridian High School. The process is competitive, and this year the camp chose 109 of the 250 teens who applied.

“I didn’t want to go in with high expectations, nor low expectations, but I know that it’s definitely been something very eye opening for me,” Rosales said. “Now I know, ‘Oh, This is probably something that I will be doing.’ I feel more certain and confident.”

Rosales, the elementary school girl, wanted to become a doctor one day. But the teen had a change of heart after a Nurse Camp promo on her high school bulletin board caught her attention and offered a preview of a different career choice.

She has come up with a new plan. She begins a two-year pre-nursing degree program through Running Start at Highline College in the fall. She intends to  pursue a four-year degree and preferably work as a pediatric nurse.

“For a long time I thought I wanted to be a doctor, but I really realized that wasn’t for me,” said Rosales, whose great uncle is also a nurse. “I really wanted to spend time with people, take care and interact with them. I’ve always been interested in the medical field, always had that connection.”

Rosales figures that when she graduates from college, the demand will be great for registered nurses.

According to RN recruiters at MultiCare, there is a need for nurses now. The size and nature of the RN work force fluctuates, runs in cycles, they explained. Retirements and other factors play a part at any given time at what’s available to those breaking into the specialized nursing profession.

“There currently is a great demand for nurses. We are in the early stages of another nursing shortage,” said Kim Giglio, director of talent acquisition programs for MultiCare. “A lot of it has to do with demographics. When people went into nursing there was a period of time when nursing wasn’t at the top of the list of professions that people were choosing. They were choosing high tech or other fields.

“And then, here in Pierce County we did a really good job of building visibility for the career of nursing through events like Nurse Camp, working with the schools, educating students about the fact that nursing is a great career choice,” Giglio said.

As RN recruiters point out, today’s nurse needs to be well organized, customer-service oriented, empathetic, flexible, and have good time-management- and problem-solving skills.

RN recruiters say many Nurse Camp participants go on to careers as RNs, some decide to become specialists, like imaging technicians or physical therapists and others choose medical school.

Options like that intrigue Faatihma Nasheed, 17. The senior-to-be at West Auburn High School wanted to see for herself what Nurse Camp was all about.

“I like fast-paced things. I’m outgoing and get along with everybody. I care about people. I didn’t know there were so many fields in the medical profession,” said Nasheed, who is exploring the possibility of becoming an obstetrician. “My grandmother was a midwife, and I’ve seen many births of my cousins and family. … I just think it’s beautiful.”

Avry Freaney, a junior-to-be at Kentwood High School, is debating between careers in medicine or nursing. The camp has provided a great opportunity to see if nursing is the right fit for her.

“It’s really great exposure,” she said. “It gives you an idea of what you might like to do before you go into college.”

MultiCare has long recognized the need to encourage a more diverse and well-prepared health workforce. It began its first Nurse Camp in 2003, graduating 30 students. Every year since, the camp has grown in popularity, with an increasing number of young men considering nursing careers, too.

“The experience was phenomenal,” said Jared Luna, a Nurse Camp graduate and volunteer. “I was pretty sure I was going to go into nursing. … (The camp) was a great final stepping stone to confirm (my interest in) nursing.”

Luna, of Tacoma, volunteers weekly in the emergency department at St. Francis Hospital in Federal Way. He begins a four-year nursing degree program this fall at Pensacola Christian College, Fla., and has his sights set on a career as an advanced practitioner nurse.

“I’m looking to specialize in either emergency or trauma (department nursing),” Luna said. “You’ve got to be flexible. You don’t know who or what’s coming in (for immediate nursing care).”

More than 250 MultiCare staff members and volunteers, and more than 20 sponsors from the local community, made this year’s Nurse Camp possible.