I have worked with Jacque since 2016 and have seen her in action. Jacque does, in every way, foster a compassionate environment where learners not only flourish but thrive. Her ability to connect with our new graduate nurse is astonishing. I have seen time and time again that not only do they succeed in her RN transition-to-practice residency program, but they also reach out to her for what now is years after they have completed it. This tells me she has connected with them in ways that support flourishing beyond their first year of nursing – which is HUGE. Jacque has taught many courses throughout the year(s), but over the past year, she has taught the preceptor class, which facilitates learner development, socialization, and interpersonal communication.

She brings to class a unique perspective that allows our staff to grow and engage in ways that are fun and interactive and helps them to be the best selves/preceptors/nurses who teach our upcoming nurses how to thrive and be confident nurses. Helping our new grads over the course of the year supports how they, as learners, bridge theoretical concepts to clinical practice, which promotes critical thinking, clinical judgment, and reasoning. Examples of this include when they are in simulation, they talk about how they are learning what they are doing at the bedside in a safe space.

One new grad said they took the learning back and showed their preceptor, who admitted they learned something new that day. More importantly, she builds the spirit of inquiry into the program. One of the EBP projects that was submitted talked about saving nurses time while increasing Veteran ambulation time. The new grads presented their findings at the extravagant RNTTP graduation. I should mention, one said can we have a part B to the RNTTP program? I don’t want to leave. I love it so much. This just goes to show how much she encourages and supports our new grads and our nurses on the units.

As I watched Jacque grow over the years, she has never stopped growing and being a lifelong learner herself – she is a constant role model to our new grads and staff nurses. She not only encourages and supports lifelong learning – she lives it. What a role model for nurses to have! Please accept this nomination for an extraordinary nursing professional development practitioner who supports and fosters a compassionate learning environment that is psychosocially safe and welcoming to our nurses and to all our staff.