奥利弗•史密斯
“绝大多数情况下，你只听说过奥斯汀 Peay的护理项目. 高中时， it’s all I heard – Austin Peay has a good 护理程序. 这是最好的公共护理 你可以在田纳西州获得的项目.”
主要: 护理学(护理学理学士)
家乡: 田纳西州纳什维尔
参与: Student Nursing Association, Peer educator at the Office of Career Services at Austin
Peay
In 1855, during the carnage of the Crimean War, a British newspaper man named John MacDonald crept through a dark hospital in Turkey, trying not to disturb hundreds 生病和受伤的士兵. To keep from getting lost or bumping into beds, he followed a young woman through the building, pausing with her as she shined her lamp over the 受伤了，说了几句安慰话安慰他们.
“She is a ‘ministering angel’ without any exaggeration in these hospitals, and as her slender form glides quietly along each corridor, every poor fellow's face softens with gratitude at the sight of her,” MacDonald wrote in The Times, helping to make 一个叫弗洛伦斯·南丁格尔的女人的传说.
More than 160 years later, this mother of modern nursing still represents the ideals and values of that profession, which is why 奥利弗•史密斯, an 奥斯汀佩伊州立大学 nursing student, sat dumbfounded in June when he learned he’d won Vanderbilt University’s 弗洛伦斯南丁格尔奖.
“It makes me happy to know I’m upholding nursing as I want it to be, which is a really sacred thing – helping people, healing people,他说. “但我还是会说，‘我做到了 这是我应得的?’”
This summer, Smith participated in the Vanderbilt Experience Student Nurse Internship Program (VESNIP) – an intense seven-week program that gives college students a realistic 护士职业的味道. It’s not “Greys Anatomy,” Smith said, referring to the popular ABC show where 护士s rush to exciting, Hollywood-style traumas. 的实习 proved to be a humbling reality in caring for injured and chronically ill individuals.
Smith excelled, exhibiting the qualities of that famed “Lady of the Lamp,” Nightingale. According to the Vanderbilt mentors who nominated him for the award, Smith “found meaningful ways to create a patient-护士 relationship with each of our patients, 很明显，他们信任他. I think he would be a valuable asset to any healthcare institution, and I would be happy to hear he starts his career at Vanderbilt.”
下面的故事继续.
一种使命
In 2008, shortly after Smith turned 10, his ailing grandfather moved in with the family. This change in the household dynamic transformed the curious and compassionate fourth grader, who spent more time at home than anyone else, into a de facto home healthcare 护士.
“My grandfather was very sick and bedridden, so I took over the role, not necessarily as his primary care person, but I was home every day taking care of him, really coordinating 感谢他的关心，”史密斯说.
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In the years that followed, he sat with dozens of 护士s who patiently explained how 他能很好地照顾他的祖父. 他们的善良，以及他们的能力 to take an overwhelming experience and transform it into something manageable, inspired Smith, and when it came time to enroll in college, the Nashville-native looked only 学校里有很好的护理课程.
“I kind of did a benefit analysis – what is a bachelor’s program that is really good 并且拿到了我想要的学位?他说. “绝大多数情况下，你只听说过奥斯汀 Peay的护理项目. 高中时， it’s all I heard – Austin Peay has a good 护理程序. 这是最好的公共护理 你可以在田纳西州获得的项目.”
VESNIP
Last spring, while walking through Austin Peay’s McCord Building, Smith stopped by 范德比尔特大学实习生的见面会. 在会议期间，他了解到 that over the next two months, participants would rotate through different units at 医疗中心. Smith immediately signed up, wanting to get a thorough taste of 在短时间内的职业.
“我经历了太多，”他说. “Once you’re on the floor for that long, you learn 这么多. We don’t have 12-hour clinical days as a student, but I was able to work 三个12小时轮班，背靠背. 你会真正体会到那是什么感觉. 你得到 to learn continuity of care, you get to see the same patients three days in a row.”
On the last day of the internship, Vanderbilt hosted a celebration for the weary participants. 那是5点。.m. 在星期五的下午. 史密斯从早上6点开始工作.m.，而当 program coordinators announced the award winners, he struggled to keep his eyes open. Then someone mentioned the names Florence Nightingale and 奥利弗•史密斯.
“我只是半听半听，”史密斯说. “我说，‘什么? Oh! OK!”
A few days later, he still wondered, “Did 这是我应得的?还是他的范德比尔特大学导师 answered that question in their nominating paperwork.
“Oliver exuded patient centered care, attention to detail, as well as eagerness and 勇于学习. He was easy to teach, clearly a quick learner, and demonstrated a level of comfortability interacting with patients that I don't typically yet see 在学生.”
