Emily Dresser '19 BSN, RN

Staff nurse, Surgical Intermediate Floor
Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA

April 28, 2020

I am working on a surgical intermediate floor in Boston, and am having a unique year as a new grad! Our floor typically sees urology, thoracic, and plastics patients, but over the last month we have seen anything from cardiology to oncology, as well as COVID rule out patients. The scariest part of my job right now is that people are doing anything they can to stay away from the hospital, indicating that they’re often exceptionally sick when they end up hospitalized. Next door to us, the ICUs are overwhelmed with a virus that could do damage to the delicate patients we are trying to care for. We are adapting to the new patients and doing our best to keep them safe, and we have been very lucky to have access to personal protective equipment to do so. 

I am lucky to have Villanova as the foundation for my nursing knowledge. I have been pushed over the last six months being a new grad, as well as now trying to care for a wide variety of very sick patients. I find myself recalling pathology lectures of heart failure, diabetes, and kidney injury to support my care today.

Villanova also taught me to remember care for the whole individual. Our patients are in a vulnerable situation, and we must remember in the chaos around us to treat them with compassion, even if it’s through a mask.