Magnet Nursing, Navicent Health

I come from a long line of caretakers. My paternal grandmother took care of several of her extended family members during various illnesses. Growing up, I was always amazed at how she took care of so many people while taking care of her own family. Also, my maternal grandmother was diagnosed with lung cancer when I was around 12 years old. I spent most nights with her, helping during the worst part of her illness. With these and countless other experiences, I knew I was meant to be a nurse. Fast forward 26 years, I still love taking care of people and I truly believe that I am where I am supposed to be.

I did my practicum during my last semester of nursing school on 9 Main in 1998. I learned a lot and really enjoyed the staff and patients. I was offered a position at the end of my practicum. I accepted it and am still here 26 years later.

I love the teamwork and the people that I work with. We all have a common goal of providing compassionate, efficient, and safe care every day.

My patients are special because they are the most grateful and humble people around. These are two of the best qualities one can possess. It makes it so easy to take care of someone that's appreciative of what you do for them.

I’ve honestly felt called to go into the medical field my entire life, but specifically after I had my first knee surgery and experienced such great care from the entire medical team. After that, I wasn’t sure if I should go to PA school, med school, or nursing school. I ultimately arrived at nursing school due to the wide variety of options nursing provides.

I honestly have to say everything about cardiology is my favorite thing about my job. Just about anyone who knows me knows that I’m passionate and forever motivated to learn about the heart and advancements in cardiovascular medicine in general. So, looking at it that way, I find it inevitable that I ended up in the Cath Lab of all places.

Really what comes to mind is that the patients we take care of on a day-to-day basis can range from seemingly healthy and ambulatory patients to the sickest of the sick. So, the range of dealing with patients reaching from outpatient procedures all the way to those patients requiring true critical care is truly unique and ever evolving.

To me, being a Magnet® nurse means that I as a nurse hold myself to a standard of care beyond that of what is just expected of me. I believe it is imperative to be committed to viewing excellence as the standard.

I chose to get my BSN because it was one step closer to achieving my master’s degree in nursing as an advanced practice nurse. By having my BSN, I have many more options open to me for career advancement. I believe that the BSN is the best platform to build off of for reaching the next level in nursing.

I chose to certify in my field and will continue to achieve future certifications for two reasons. First, I believe that accomplishing a certification is validation of knowledge and effort exerted to remain informed and educated in my area of expertise. Secondly, I view my nursing certification as a commitment to my patients and community that I will always strive for more than status quo.

As a child, I always wanted to teach and help others. I remember as a Girl Scout, I was nicknamed “lifesaver” for helping a friend with first aid. In searching for my career, nursing combined helping others and teaching new nurses.

My favorite part of my job is being able to make a kid feel like a kid again through being creative in care. I try to make them as comfortable as possible during their hospitalization while incorporating familiar objects. Whether it be decorating a patient’s room with cartoon characters or being able to set up Christmas gifts for a child during their hospitalization, being a pediatric nurse comes with caring for the whole patient.

The pediatric patient population differs from other patient populations in the wide variety of care provided. No day in the pediatric intensive care unit is the same as one day you could be caring for a one-day-old and the next a teenager. Pediatric patient's care varies depending on their growth and development. No matter their age, pediatric patients are resilient.

Being a Magnet® nurse includes being supported by teammates and leadership through nurse autonomy. A Magnet® nurse goes above and beyond in their career and is supported by teammates to continue education to improve the workplace. I believe that being a Magnet® nurse is an honor and highlights the importance of nursing care in the healthcare setting.

I decided to go to school to obtain my BSN degree to help further my career in the future. In receiving my BSN, I have had a desire to further my education and am currently in my master's program for nurse education. I believe having my BSN has widened my approach to patient care through evidence-based practice and leadership components.

As an undergraduate, I attended clinical at Atrium Health Navicent. During my experience, I worked with nurses who enjoyed their work environment and prioritized teaching others. This inspired me to consider Atrium Health Navicent as a place for my career. I started working in the Pediatric ICU in 2021 and have loved my experience.

I have always wanted to be a nurse. I originally got the idea of being a nurse while doing a book report on Florence Nightingale in second grade. I had the opportunity to actually be the Lady with the Lamp. It was amazing to me! Originally, I wanted to do mother baby and peds after my niece and nephew came along. I absolutely loved being able to take care of them and learn as they grew! And once my grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease and had to come live with us, I saw even more of the life process. Watching my niece and nephew progress from infant to toddlers and my grandmother regress from adult back to infant, and being able to take part in their care, was life-changing to me and just set in stone for me what I wanted to do.

Being an ortho trauma nurse, I see people in tough situations – situations in which they never thought they would be. To see a patient come in with trauma, to see them progress, to communicate again, to recover back to almost full functioning doing for themselves enough to go to rehab and improve more gives me such joy! There is no better feeling in the world! And being a Clinical Lead allows me to educate staff with techniques I have learned along the way; and they teach me newer techniques I am sometimes not familiar with. It gives me a voice in the care of not only our floor’s patient population, but also for our incredible staff!

I can honestly say our patient population is like no other. I tell my patients I am here to assist them, not to enable them; and once they realize I’m trying to do what's best for them for the best outcomes, they start to match my energy. Not all of our patients will give that energy, and those are ones we really have to work with to prove to them everything we do is for their betterment; but seeing them recover from what they consider very low points in their lives, and seeing them thrive, is just amazing!

Being a Magnet® nurse gives me comfort knowing my voice is being heard in the day-to-day care of my patients. I have a voice in some of the policies that my facility implements for staff and patients. Being able to work for a facility that has obtained this status time and again is an honor!

I honestly got my MSN after a dare from my brothers! I wanted to progress in my nursing career but just was not sure what my next step would be. I chose to obtain my MSN as a Family Nurse Practitioner so I could practice nursing for the life span – being able to see and treat patients of all ages. The assessment skills and knowledge I have obtained benefit our patients and helps with educating staff, especially newer staff who might need additional validation and reassurance.