Natalie Aunan, BSN, RN, works in the Surgical and Neuroscience Intensive Care Unit (SNICU) at UI Health Care and treats her patients like family members.
A patient’s daughter says Aunan cares for her patients’ broken bodies, but she loves their souls. The praise of Aunan’s excellent care led to her being honored with a DAISY Award. Daily Nurse is proud to name Natalie Aunan our Nurse of the Week.
“Looking at each patient and remembering that they’re someone’s loved one helps prioritize providing compassionate care to them,” says Aunan. “How would I want my family member to be treated in that situation?”
When a patient was admitted to the SNICU with severe brain damage following an accident, the family chose to place their loved one in palliative care, where he remained until his death. For the patient’s family, Aunan was a godsend.
“She loved my dad just like he was her own,” says the patient’s daughter. “He never went without anything under her care, and she made sure he was always comfortable. I will forever be grateful that my dad was taken care of by the best.”
Aunan’s Compassion Runs Deep
Aunan says her compassionate nature stems from her family, including her parents, three older sisters, and younger brother. Growing up, her parents emphasized the importance of helping others.
“My parents raised us on the values of family and being compassionate to other people,” she says. “That was always stressed to us and created the person I am today.”’
Aunan believes nursing is the best way to lean into those values. So she earned her nursing degree and felt the SNICU at UI Hospitals & Clinics was the perfect place to launch her career.
“I was a nursing assistant there during my undergrad studies at the University of Iowa,” she says.“The teamwork in the SNICU is unbeatable. We all help each other with every little task. So I can trust that if I need to step off the unit for a few minutes, my co-workers give the same level of care to my patients.”Currently, she’s expanding her skills by studying to become a nurse practitioner.
A Role Model for Compassionate Care
The family who nominated Aunan for a DAISY Award wrote in their nomination letter, Aunan’s “grace, and respect for her patients breathe life into her unit.”
Those words help motivate Aunan to provide the most compassionate care possible.
“I remember that patient like it was yesterday,” she says. “I took care of him for about four days. Then, I picked up an extra work day to see him through. I do pretty well at keeping a stable work-life balance—I realize I’m there to care for them and need a strong face. But this was a tough one.”
Even though Aunan is only two years into her career, her dedication to learning more about caring for a patient’s emotional well-being shows in the kind words of her patients. She hopes to lead by example for new nurses who want to understand the importance of compassionate care better.
Aunan says everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.
“It doesn’t matter what landed them here or their previous story. It’s a matter of looking at every patient with a fresh set of eyes,” she says. “Providing the most holistic care has a major impact on our patients, their families, and their outcomes.”
Nominate a Nurse of the Week! Every Wednesday, DailyNurse.com features a nurse making a difference in the lives of their patients, students, and colleagues. We encourage you to nominate a nurse who has impacted your life as the next Nurse of the Week, and we’ll feature them online and in our weekly newsletter.
