Samantha truly has a heart of gold. She approaches each patient with kindness, compassion, respect, and humility. She finds ways to engage with every patient she comes across and makes it a meaningful encounter. This is something all nurses are coached into doing; however, for Samantha, this comes naturally.

Being a nursing student, you are not required to care for patients in certain situations, such as patients with intense safety concerns, psychiatric holds, or combative patients. She was given a patient assignment one morning, and unbeknownst to her and the instructor, the patient was reportedly combative and in restraints. The instructor and the primary nurse both advised that Samantha be reassigned to a new patient; however, Samantha insisted on keeping her assigned patient, as she felt, in her own words, that "she could handle it".

As the day went on, Samantha slowly but surely developed a deeply therapeutic relationship with her patient. She gained his trust and created a calm, soothing environment where he no longer felt threatened but felt heard. This was largely thanks to Samantha's attentiveness to the patient's needs and recognizing he needed advocacy in his current state.

De-escalating this patient allowed the RN to discontinue his restraints. This patient later needed an IV start, which Samantha also successfully achieved, all while maintaining his cooperation.

There are some students you come across who you know have that "it" factor, and in the words of the primary RN that day, "Samantha's got it".

Nursing is one of the most difficult professions to enter, so to impress a seasoned nurse with 25 years of experience on an intense cardiac progressive unit, now that's saying something. Samantha has a very bright future ahead as a nurse and has much to offer the world through her vocation.