There’s much to amaze the 104 teens at this week’s Multicare Nurse Camp.

Suturing a pig organ. Seeing garage-size washing machines used to launder items at Tacoma General Hospital. Using a surgical robot to remove candy Skittles from a mannequin.

But the best thing for Federal Way High School senior Keely Craig? “Seeing an open heart surgery. We could see the heart beating,” said Craig, wearing a set of hospital scrubs at Tacoma General. “Someday I want to be in cardiac surgery.”

Teens from 46 high schools in Pierce, Thurston and South King counties are getting an in-your-face view of nursing and other health care fields at nurse camp this week.

Following the tradition of nurses receiving a pin upon graduation, the four-day camp ends today with its own version of a “pinning” ceremony.

It’s the sixth year the MultiCare Health System has organized the camp. The intent is to encourage teens to think about entering the health care field, especially in nursing, which suffers from a perennial shortage of workers.

Other providers, including Franciscan Health System, offer similar programs to expose youth to health professions. Next week, for instance, 75 ninth-graders from South Sound schools will learn how to use a scalpel on cow tongues, how to splint a broken arm, and other activities in Franciscan’s 10th annual Health Adventures program at St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma, St. Clare Hospital in Lakewood and St. Francis Hospital in Federal Way, Franciscan spokesman Gail Robinette said.

At MultiCare, students were selected for Nurse Camp based on essays about why they’re considering a career in health care.

Years from now, campers completing their education might apply to a MultiCare facility, nudged by memories of their week at nurse camp, spokesman Todd Kelley said. “It’s sort of a strategy to grow our own,” he said.

Organizers learned from the first camp that students don’t like “being talked to,” said MultiCare community outreach liaison Liesl Santkuyl, who coordinates the camp with Chelsey Westby. Now the week is packed with hands-on activities.

Teens shadowed nurses and clinicians in the emergency department, intensive care unit, surgical care areas, laboratory and pharmacy at Tacoma General, Allenmore and Mary Bridge Children’s hospitals.

They practiced the excruciatingly exact procedures of scrubbing down, drying hands and arms, and putting on surgical garb. They sutured pig hearts and kidneys. Some peeked through windows at real-life operations. A couple of teens, with approval from the patient and staff, got to go into the operating room.

They visited health care education programs at Tacoma Community College, Clover Park Technical College, Pacific Lutheran University and the University of Washington Tacoma.

Campers learned there are more than 50 nursing specialties – from oncology and public health to labor and delivery – and got a glimpse of the dozens of other health care professions.

“It was a really great opportunity if you’re aspiring to be a nurse,” said Aryelle Selck, who just graduated from Steilacoom High School. After seeing the intensive care unit in action this week, she’s interested in becoming a neonatal-intensive care nurse.

Lincoln High School senior Jalissa Nichols shadowed a pediatric nurse who took blood samples from a newborn and hooked up the baby to an EKG. Nichols wants to pursue the same specialty. She and Wilson High School senior Brianna Sherwood said the camp has made them more resolved to follow their career dreams.

“It’s made me feel for sure I want to go into it,” said Sherwood, who wants to become a pathologist. “Now I really want to focus and get good grades.”

Debby Abe: 253-597-8694

debby.abe@thenewstribune.com

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