IHP education and personal experiences propel IHP graduate to the operating room.

It was kindness and support during life’s horrifying moments that drew Amanda Fournier to nursing. Those same ideals then pulled her from in-patient work to the operating room. 

“I was with my grandmother when she passed away,” says Fournier, a 2018 MGH Institute of Health Professions graduate of the ABSN program. “It was terrifying, but the care and compassion that the emergency room nurses showed my family brought me so much peace. It made me want to do that for someone else.”
At the time, Fournier was a student at Stonehill College studying criminology and psychology and had planned on a career in juvenile justice. 

“That moment with my grandmother really changed things,” says Fournier. “Later, I was able to shadow an ICU nurse, and everyone I met was so dedicated to their patients.” 

Fournier found the operating room by chance.

“After college, I was looking for hospital experience before going to nursing school and ended up as an Operations Associate,” she says. “I loved being able to work with both the nursing and anesthesia teams day in and day out.” 

Fournier couldn’t help but be drawn to the ways that OR nurses must be able to manage a crisis within the operating room, while also providing reassuring patient care before someone goes in for surgery. 

This past spring Fournier left her role as a medical-surgical floor nurse and begin as an operating room nurse. It’s a role she says the IHP prepared her well for.

“My instructors always taught us to prepare for the worst-case scenario and then prepare how you’ll react to it,” she says. “I still do that exercise in my head. I think through what I’ll need and how I should react.” 

While situations often change rapidly in the operating room, Fournier says that practice of anticipating along with her IHP education has made her adept at reacting effectively in critical situations. 

“My nursing education emphasized the value of organizing and planning ahead when you can. That’s crucial in the OR,” says Fournier. 

Fournier is now planning to get her OR nursing certification and become a certified operating room nurse (CNOR). She’s also considering leveraging her background in psychology and criminology to become a sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE certified). It’s another opportunity to show her patients comfort and compassion during terrifying times – the same traits she saw when her family needed it most. 

“I love what I do,” says Fournier. “Not only am I in the trenches providing the best care possible, but I’m also connecting with families, answering their questions, and being a calm presence. It’s very gratifying – I can’t imagine doing anything else.”

Do you have a story the Office of Strategic Communications should know about? If so, email me at: cbarrett1 [at] mghihp.edu (cbarrett1[at]mghihp[dot]edu)

 

Fournier and fellow 2018 ABSN graduates on Graduation Day