Cheryl
Anema
September 2012
Cheryl
Anema
,
PhD RN
Advocate Christ Medical Center (ACMC) Schools of Nursing
Oak Lawn
,
IL
United States

 

 

 

Dr. Cheryl Anema, Assistant Professor of Nursing, Purdue University Calumet, is the 2012 DAISY faculty award recipient granted by Advocate Christ Medical Center. Cheryl was the project leader for the senior nursing student Capstone Project entitled “Appropriate Tool Use for Withdrawal Symptom Assessment in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). This project was a collaborative effort with Phyllis Lawlor-Klean, APN, and NICU. Capstone projects are proposed by interested clinical practice units, who affiliate with Purdue University and serve as collaborative learning environment s for the nursing students. Cheryl did a remarkable job of mentoring her students on all levels. First and foremost, she mentored the student group on how to run a professional practice meeting with an agenda, to stay on track in terms of time and to complete the outlined project. This role modeled to the students the importance of utilizing research tools and skills in approaching a nursing practice project. Cheryl had a unique way of energizing students and the rest of us to learn. She was always enthusiastic, and when road blocks were encountered, she pointed out what could be learned from that situation instead of it becoming something negative. This real time problem solving proved to be invaluable for the project. She was instrumental in directing the students to grant opportunities. They listened and under her direction applied and received grant money toward their project and this is quite an accomplishment on the undergraduate level. Again, that speaks to good mentoring. She also did an excellent job of keeping the students engaged, either via face-to-face meeting or by e-mail. She encouraged the students to think “outside the box” when it seemed like answers were not coming their way. She promoted interdisciplinary collaboration and ultimately lead us to a possible solution. The group did an excellent presentation with great insight and really demonstrated the strength of Cheryl’s leadership through their accomplishments. Her student team was a pleasure to work with. Congratulations Cheryl, on behalf of Advocate Christ Medical Center.