Nurse Stories

Building well-being and leadership skills in nursing isn’t a new concept, but surprisingly, it hasn’t traditionally been a formal component of nursing education. As a result, many nurses enter the profession unprepared for what’s ahead. Beginning this winter, a new educational curriculum from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing will pilot a competency-based approach to developing the next generation of nurses at 10 nursing colleges nationwide, focused on empowering students with the skills needed to prioritize self-care, healthy behaviors and well-being in the healthcare work environment.

Johnson & Johnson is proud to have supported nurse innovators and entrepreneurs through the Johnson & Johnson Nurses Innovate QuickFire Challenge Awards, which has provided grant funding for nurse-founded healthcare solutions and approaches. But the innovation journey doesn’t stop there. Here, three inspiring QuickFire Challenge awardees share what they’ve been up to since receiving their award, how their solutions have grown and expanded, and their advice for other nurses inspired to solve for healthcare’s biggest challenges.

Meet the PA nursing student whose immigration experience inspired her to become a nurse to give back and help her community.

Meet the nontraditional nursing student inspired to join her daughter and son-in-law in the nursing profession.

Meet the first-generation nursing student balancing motherhood, work and school to achieve her lifelong dream of becoming a nurse.

As a hospital-based nurse, Kwamane Liddell saw how important it was for patients to have healthy meals tailored to their medical needs. Liddell created Nutrible, a technology platform that helps healthcare providers connect patients with healthy food aligned with their medical and cultural needs.

Meet the nursing student who wants to become a last-line advocate for patients and a helping hand for new nurses on their paths to the profession.

Meet the nursing student who brings her most authentic self to the table—and hopes to make an impact from Jamaica to the U.S. and beyond.

A former bedside nurse, USCF Health's Pat Patton’s data-backed, listen-first, feedback-driven approach to creating a supportive environment where nurses stay and thrive is working—and presents a blueprint for health systems everywhere.

Meet the nursing student led by faith and family, ready to face her fears head on and advocate for patients—and herself.

Meet the Mississippi nursing student who hopes to provide compassionate care and patient advocacy to those who need it most.

This summer, SEE YOU NOW is on the road meeting new ideas and people and sharing stories about what we’ve experienced in a wide range of healthcare encounters. We’re taking you with us to the Aspen Ideas: Health conference to be part of a special evening of stories told from The Point of Care and introduce change makers Vanessa Broadhurst, Erica Plybea, Jabraan Pasha, Ivelyse Andino, Ashlee Wisdom, Erin Athey, and AJ Johnson who deepen our understanding that what powers complex health systems and transforms lives are the humans, relationships, and moments of listening and share how entrepreneurs and innovators are making a world where everyone, everywhere, has access to quality healthcare.

Claire Zangerle, Chief Nurse Executive at Alleghany Health Network, describes how Alleghany Health is improving patient care through the concept of team nursing.

Samantha Roecker, RN has a “track record” (pun intended) of breaking many barriers and stereotypes and her success in competitive running combined with her experience as a nurse drove her to combine her passions to raise awareness and drive change for nurses. In this episode, we talk with Samantha about the impact stigma has on nurses’ ability to reach their full potential, what really defines a nurse, the power of mental health support, and the surprising overlap between nursing and competitive running.

International Nurses Day is an important opportunity to check the pulse of nurses around the world, especially in 2022. Nurses have given their all in the response to pandemics, natural disasters, and in war zones, in leading mass COVID-19 testing and vaccination efforts, and in completely redesigning how and where care is delivered. The value of nurses has never been more clear. Nor could it be any clearer that not enough is being done to protect nurses and other health workers, tragically underscored by the more than 180,000 health worker deaths due to COVID-19 and the alarming increase of mental health conditions and concerns nurses report.

In this episode, we learn how a health system’s leadership demonstrates their commitment to the wellbeing and flourishing of their team members; the rather unlikely story of nurses, singing, and stardom; and the surprising healing power of the arts. Special thanks to nurse and tenor singer Winnie Mele, RN, BSN, NE-BC, nurse and soprano singer Keshia Jaboin, RN, BSN , and Allison Lowenfeld from Northwell Health’s corporate marketing team for sharing their story, experience, and voices.

Two years ago, when COVID-19 patients began arriving in her hospital, Lisa Kilgard, BSN, RN-BC, raised her hand to move full-time to that unit, where she thought she could learn something new and take care of vulnerable members of her community.

Within minutes, the now-iconic images and video footage of critical care nurse Sandra Lindsay receiving a COVID-19 jab administered by fellow nurse Michelle Chester, DNP began circulating in media outlets around the globe and along with it a high-profile opportunity to reach others, inspire them, and build their vaccine confidence.

In this episode, we meet nurse innovators Ravenne Aponte, BA, BSN and Joanna Seltzer Uribe, RN, MSN, EdD (c) and their quest to introduce you to, in fun and sticky ways, NursesYouShouldKnow -- and more importantly -- WHY we should know them.

We checked in with school nurse Liz Pray, MSN-Ed, RN, NCSN in Washington State to learn about the role of a school nurse during a pandemic, how she is experiencing this moment, learning from and gaining strength from the support of her national school nursing community, and why school nurses are more important and essential than ever.

In this episode we meet Jennifer and Corey Feist, co-founders of the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes' Foundation, US Senator Tim Kaine, co-sponsor of the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act, and nurse and researcher Christopher Friese, a national authority on the nursing workforce and healthcare workplace safety to learn about ending the culture of fear regarding seeking mental health support within healthcare, the urgent need for healthcare organizations to build cultures that protect our healers, the importance of making sure that our workforces feels valued and supported at work, and the need to take care of each other and the vulnerabilities that we all have.

As a kid, Julius Johnson, DNP, RN, FNP-BC, watched his father, an ICU nurse, run toward every crisis. Julius loved the adrenaline rush, but he realized that what he really loved was helping people, so he became a nurse.

ICYMI: Get inspired! Check out what happened during the latest NurseHack4Health hackathon. From improving onboarding for new nurses to addressing burnout, the winning innovations from the weekend had one common denominator: creating a more sustainable workforce for nurses.

In this third of a multi-episode series centered on the Accelerating Nursing, Transforming Healthcare report, we go for a checkup on retail health clinics with Angela Patterson, the Chief Nurse Practitioner Officer at CVS MinuteClinic to learn how the teams at MinuteClinic worked with a variety of partners to deliver care throughout the pandemic to communities across the US when health systems around the country experienced high levels of disruption.