July 2026 Honoree
Stephanie Lane, MSN, RN, PCCN
Stephanie is one of the most extraordinary nurses I have ever had the privilege of knowing. A specific experience of the many I’ve observed that exemplifies her commitment to patient care and safety is when a patient on the floor who was experiencing great anxiety was awaiting discharge orders and made the decision to leave before receiving his medications.
As things go in the hospital, it was taking quite a while for meds to come up from the pharmacy. The patient was noticeably distressed and eventually said he was going to just leave. As he left, I tried to speak to him, but he was quite distressed. Stephanie noticed him passing the nursing station and I remember vividly her saying “I am so sorry sweetheart, I am really trying to get those meds up here for you as quickly as possible”.
That patient was still very frustrated. Stephanie spoke to him with such compassion. Stephanie pleaded with him not to leave without his medication. Stephanie said she would go down to the pharmacy, knowing she had patients on the floor. I went down for her. Stephanie continued to speak to the patient until I got back.
She likely saved the patient that day. He was on medication for hypertension, an anticoagulant, and a diabetic med. Stephanie cares, not because she has to but because as she told me nursing on the floor we work on “is where she felt needed”.
Stephanie is an inspiration to people like me who are still figuring out what being a nurse truly is. She is a teacher, a caregiver, an investigator, and a true medical professional. She has set an unprecedented standard of what a nurse is capable of for me.
If there existed a perfect example of what a nurse should be, the values they should hold, the caliber of person they are, and the professional integrity they should emulate, Stephanie would be the template. I have so much respect for her and have great aspirations to meet the bar that she has set so high for the nursing profession.
As things go in the hospital, it was taking quite a while for meds to come up from the pharmacy. The patient was noticeably distressed and eventually said he was going to just leave. As he left, I tried to speak to him, but he was quite distressed. Stephanie noticed him passing the nursing station and I remember vividly her saying “I am so sorry sweetheart, I am really trying to get those meds up here for you as quickly as possible”.
That patient was still very frustrated. Stephanie spoke to him with such compassion. Stephanie pleaded with him not to leave without his medication. Stephanie said she would go down to the pharmacy, knowing she had patients on the floor. I went down for her. Stephanie continued to speak to the patient until I got back.
She likely saved the patient that day. He was on medication for hypertension, an anticoagulant, and a diabetic med. Stephanie cares, not because she has to but because as she told me nursing on the floor we work on “is where she felt needed”.
Stephanie is an inspiration to people like me who are still figuring out what being a nurse truly is. She is a teacher, a caregiver, an investigator, and a true medical professional. She has set an unprecedented standard of what a nurse is capable of for me.
If there existed a perfect example of what a nurse should be, the values they should hold, the caliber of person they are, and the professional integrity they should emulate, Stephanie would be the template. I have so much respect for her and have great aspirations to meet the bar that she has set so high for the nursing profession.
Thank you, Stephanie, for your exceptional compassion, advocacy, and dedication to your patients. You truly make a difference.
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