I have been a nurse for 30 years and also a nurse leader for the past 12 years as well as a clinical instructor for OCCC for the past 3 years. I have had Shanezia in my group on 3 clinical days thus far.

When I meet with my students on the first day, I ask them to share something about themselves and why they chose the profession. I also ask them to share with me their strengths and weaknesses and what is challenging for them. She shared that she has no medical experience, and this is a second career for her. What struck me about her is her honesty and willingness to learn. She shared that she has not had a clinical experience with dressing changes and also that it is not her favorite thing to do. I took this as an opportunity for her to learn a skill and overcome her fear of learning this skill. I assigned her a patient that had severe peripheral vascular disease, diabetes, and required a pretty intense dressing change. The patient had had an amputation of several toes and necrosis. She was very nervous but accepted the challenge. She was so careful and attentive to this patient, stopping frequently to ask if he was ok during the dressing change. I could tell she was becoming a little panicked, but her fellow students talked her through it and so did the patient! He reassured her that she was doing a great job and she was not hurting him in any way.

The empathy I saw in her eyes and caring, and compassion was rewarding for me as an instructor; she was taking her time and being very careful and not just going through the emotions and was very concerned with providing the best care to her patient. She had a fantastic rapport and made the patient comfortable. After it was done, she was relieved. Although it was not one of her favorite things to do, we as nurses all have that one task we feel uncomfortable with, however, it is important to push yourself beyond your comfort zone and do what is right for your patient and provide the care that is expected.

Another reason I nominated her is the second and third time during clinical, she had 2 elderly women she cared for. They did not require much physical care, but it was communication skills and caring nature that stood out to me and was so evident, one of the patients cried when she left for the day. She was a tremendous help to this woman as she had no visitors and no relationship with her children. Sometimes it is not just the physical care nurses provide for patients, but the emotional aspect and therapeutic communication that makes a difference in someone's life, even if you only met them for a few hours, it has an impact. I believe she will be an excellent nurse and wish her well on her professional journey and continue to be an inspiration to her patients and peers.