It is such an honor for me to nominate Makenzie Byrd, a graduating traditional senior BSN student, for the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nursing Students. She fits the picture of an extraordinary nursing student perfectly! She goes above and beyond to provide care and compassion to everyone she encounters, including her classmates, the junior undergraduate class, and patients. She constantly demonstrates behaviors that exemplify the UMMC SON core values of respect, excellence, accountability, diversity, and integrity. 

During Makenzie’s most recent clinical rotation, she cared for a patient over several shifts with severe burns to the face, upper extremities, and torso. This patient required a tracheostomy and ventilator to breathe, which caused the patient to be non-verbal, but he remained very aware of his surroundings. Makenzie worked extremely hard to create a method to communicate with this patient using non-verbal cues. She described to me that this particular patient began to tug at her heartstrings as she pictured herself in their situation and could not fathom the fear the patient must have felt being unable to communicate, on a ventilator, and dependent on his self-care. Makenzie truly cared for this patient as if he were her family member. During her last shift with this patient, she helped her preceptor provide this patient with his regular nightly bath and then decided to shave his facial hair for the first time since his accident. To some, this may have meant a simple shave, but it meant the whole world to this patient! Makenzie and her preceptor then decided to sit this patient up in a modified chair for the first time since his accident three months prior. He began smiling from ear to ear, kicking both of his feet and nodding with excitement. When Makenzie shared this story with me, she did not focus on what she had done for the patient; instead, she focused on what the patient had done for her that day. She said, “As I watched him sitting up in the chair for the first time, smiling widely, and seeing him feel a sense of accomplishment, tears came to my eyes, knowing not only the impact that we had on him but truly reflecting on what he had just done for me.  As we go to work daily to provide the best care that we can and positively impact our patients, we often walk away with small moments such as this that remind us why we do what we do.  Nursing is a work of heart.”

Besides providing excellent care and compassion to her patients, Makenzie also leads her classmates and the junior nursing class by exemplifying the UMMC SON core values. Makenzie has voluntarily served as a liaison to the junior nursing students. She has provided guidance and encouragement to them every semester on study tips and tricks and surviving nursing school during unprecedented times. This semester, one junior nursing student bragged on how AMAZING Makenzie was as a tutor for him. He had seen significant improvements in his studying, understanding of the material, and course grades. Makenzie even went on to host a group study session via WebEx for all the students in the junior class. 

Makenzie demonstrates an extraordinary commitment to skills and compassionate patient care that will make a difference in the lives of so many people while exemplifying the UMMC SON core values. Makenzie encompasses many of the same caring and compassionate traits that the Barnes family described of their son's nurses, leading them to create The DAISY Foundation. She is more than deserving of this award.