"For addressing mental health concerns, telemedicine has a huge role," he notes.
It's not just Stevenson alumni working on the frontlines. Current Nursing student Regina Nicoli, who will graduate in May 2021, works as a patient care technician and student nurse at the Baltimore Washington Medical Center. Her day-to-day work involves checking vital signs, assisting patients with bathing, and helping nurses wherever possible. But during the peak of the pandemic in late March and April, Nicoli was often assigned to designated COVID units—which she describes as "a completely different environment."
"Honestly, I was terrified the first day I was floated to the unit and had to take care of a COVID-positive patient," she remembers. Her fear quickly dissipated after realizing the patients were far more scared than she was. "I was the one person who was able to come into their room due to the visitor restrictions. I had to leave my fears at the hospital entrance, and I took care of all my patients to the best of my ability."
Another thing that has helped Nicoli through the fear? The advice she got from Stevenson professor Deborah Lyons, who taught one of her first Nursing classes. "She said, 'You can do anything for a short amount of time,' and that has stuck with me—especially when I had to dress head-to-toe in PPE and I was overheating and frustrated with the current situation. I would recall Professor Lyon's quote and it would get me through the rest of my shift."
After graduation, Nicoli plans to continue in the field of nursing and is still weighing areas in which area she might specialize. "I can remember one senior nurse asking me if I still wanted to be a nurse after working through this pandemic. I said 'absolutely'. There is nowhere else I would rather be," she says.
Read the full story in Ventures at stevenson.edu/ventures.
I can remember one senior nurse asking me if I still wanted to be a nurse after working through this pandemic.
I said ‘absolutely’.
There is nowhere else I would rather be.