What principles inspire nurses in their care of patients? According to the Code of Ethics for Nurses, the four main principles nurses are expected to act with are Non-maleficence, Beneficence, Justice, and Autonomy. But each individual nurse brings a unique outlook to healthcare. As a part of BoardVitals’s commitment to supporting the nurses of the future, we awarded our second annual Nursing School Scholarship.
For the 2022 BoardVitals Nursing School Scholarship, we asked current nursing students to answer the question: “What are your core principles, and how do they impact the contributions you aim to make as a nurse?” Like the previous year, we received several inspiring entries making it difficult to select our winners. Nonetheless, we narrowed it down to three nursing students.
Below we present the winners of the 2022 BoardVitals Nursing School Scholarship and an excerpt about their core principles they plan to make as a nurse:
1st Place: Fahtma Saad
Fahtma Saad is a current nursing student at Vanderbilt University. She was encouraged by her cousin to become a Nurse Practitioner, and is excited to finish her program this year. Fahtma’s favorite color is black, which coincidentally is the same color scrubs used by Vanderbilt. One of her favorite ways to brighten up her scrubs is by hand making her badge reels to match her unit rotations.
In her essay, Fahtma wrote about how compassion drives her to be a better nurse for her patients. Here is an excerpt:
“After working and volunteering at hospitals and clinics with underserved communities, I became fascinated by nursing. I believe that the patient-focused leadership philosophy and personification of compassion make nursing unique in the healthcare field. Compassion is a core value in my life. As nurses, we provide care for the whole person, not just their chronic or acute afflictions. We work alongside patients to help them reach their goals. Compassion can lead to better health outcomes such as fewer errors, patient adherence, and overall patient contentment. During my grade school years, my compassionate school counselor saw me for who I was and understood the struggles I faced daily. He made it a point to check in with me and encouraged me not to let adversity harden my heart. He instilled the importance of compassion and my passion for helping those in need.”
2nd Place: Elizabeth Levine
Elizabeth Levine is a nursing student at Montgomery College. She has danced professionally for more than 23 years, performing both nationally and internationally. Some of her earliest memories are sharing frozen yogurt with her nurse mom in the hospital cafeteria.
Outside of her studies, Elizabeth relaxes by taking long bike rides with her family, mostly on the bike trails connecting Maryland with Washington, D.C. Elizabeth and her wife are proud parents to two boys, and countless pets.
In her essay, Elizabeth wrote about how her upbringing and background as a dancer inspired her career in healthcare. Here is an excerpt:
“My training as a dancer has taught me that feeling and thinking can live in the same moment and that they inform each other. As I dance, I need to be fully aware of my own body and the movements I am making while I am also remembering the choreography and being fully present to the moment. I need to sense the way the movement feels in my body, but I also need to assess my spatial proximity to other dancers and the confines of the stage. I need to execute the choreography to its fullest while also preparing for the next moment. As I dance, I am counting the rhythm of the music, managing times of being off balance, maintaining my core strength as I am lifted and trusting another dancer with my full self. I am also adjusting in the moment for the unexpected- and in live performance there is always the unexpected.”
3rd Place: Indy Krohne
Indy Krohne is a nursing student at the University of Missouri. In her essay, Indy wrote how her focus on grit and other key principles motivate her on her journey through nursing school. Here is an excerpt:
“GRIT. My high school foundational principle was named ‘GRIT’. GRIT is the drive to push through situations; it’s the resiliency to get back up when life wants you to be put down. It’s the discipline and action to continuously working hard showing up even when life takes a hold on you. I want to contribute to the nursing field GRIT for constantly pushing through hard medical situations and fighting until the possible outcome is encountered. I want my patients to see the GRIT in me to improve their situation and the fact that I will stop at nothing for their health. I even want my patients to develop that same sense of GRIT to push through medication and therapy to finish their race and win their battle.”
Congratulations to all of our winners! Check out the winners of our other 2022 scholarships:
