April D
Stegeman
May 2024
April D
Stegeman
,
ADN, RN
Virginia Mason Medical Center
Seattle
,
WA
United States

 

 

 

She is an example of a live version of what we read from policy and procedures in the book. She motivates me to work just as hard while still enjoying what I do at the hospital. Aligning her words and actions makes her honest and valuable.
I recognized excellence in a nurse named April Stegeman. She always arrives to work with a positive attitude and a smile on her face. She shows compassion in going above and beyond in everything she does for the hospital, staff, and patients. Even though she is currently on light-duty she still works very so hard to complete her own tasks while assisting other staff as well to offer and accept to take the challenge of training me. My position is a new role at the hospital. It was slowly progressing, but unfortunately, my orientation and training were difficult to complete due to it being a new role. It has limited my ability to succeed in many different ways. There was no focus on what I could or could not control. This fear made me anxious where I started to self-doubt in everything that I did. I experienced and learned as I watched through April’s daily work routine. It was exciting to see the way how she is organized and prioritize her daily tasks while multi-tasking other tasks to assist her staff and others on the floor. It was remarkable because it was truly different from what we normally see it as. She does her job to the detail. We all have slacked off once in our lives but not April. I got stressed out one time over the phone with Security about my badge not working. April reminded me to take a moment and breath and said, “Everything is Alright.” At that moment, I actually believed her and I actually was able to become calm and even laughed about it afterwards. She is an example of a live version of what we read from policy and procedures in the book. She motivates me to work just as hard while still enjoying what I do at the hospital. Aligning her words and actions makes her honest and valuable. I trust and understand her details of actions without doubt or hesitation. She prepared me in every step from start to end from what would be a normal routine shift. She took the time out of her busy schedule to show me a tour of the hospital layout and location of floor maps of the different sectors of the hospital campus which I needed most. Not having the basic foundation makes it difficult to understand your job duties. Through her teaching strategies and my learning skills, I was able to go to work feeling confident and secure. I was able to replace my worry, fear, and anxiety with confidence to focus, again. Because of April’s selfless service, I was able to move forward and complete my orientation training.