Professor Cervone is the epitome of an amazing nurse in both her practice as well as her teaching. At our clinical site, she was constantly seeking opportunities for the students to learn and develop their skills. During every clinical day, I don’t think there was one moment I didn’t see her moving from patient to patient with at least one student by her side, whether it be going to the med room to pull medications to administer or providing another type of patient care. There were multiple times during the semester when I reported to Professor Cervone something that needed to be done for my patient that day, and in every one of those times, she told me to tell the primary nurse that we would take care of it together so she could guide me through the process—as appropriate, and as permitted by our college and the facility, of course. In every encounter with her students, Professor Cervone makes it a point to bring personal anecdotes from her practice to help bring what we are currently doing and learning at the clinical site as well as in class to light. For me, as someone who is more of a visual learner as opposed to reading from a textbook, she really helps to paint a more complete picture of the nursing topics we are learning and helps me to better understand the material. It’s stories like these that I will especially remember in my future career as a nurse. To help accomplish this, she regularly asked us if there was anything specific we had not done yet at clinical but wanted to do, and as appropriate, would make it a point to seek out those experiences for us.

With Professor Cervone as my clinical instructor she really helped make the clinical experience complement my classroom experience, rather than just bringing us to clinical and having us sit around bored for 12 hours waiting for our turn to pass medications or for a call light to go off. It was apparent every clinical day that she is dedicated to helping her students succeed and wants the best for them to help them grow and succeed. Her positive demeanor, personable nature, and drive to help her patients made Professor Cervone feel more like a colleague rather than a typical college instructor. I always felt that she had that “got your back” mentality that we all want of our colleagues on the floor when we become nurses.

Professor Cervone is an asset to County College of Morris, and the nursing profession as a whole. I’m sorry to see the semester come to a close, but consider myself fortunate to have had her as my clinical instructor. She’s exactly the type of nurse I want to be after I graduate. Thank you, Professor Cervone!