Page 20 - Johns Hopkins Nursing Magazine Fall 2020 - Johns Hopkins School of Nursing

NEWS FROM JOHNS HOPKINS NURSING Full Circle Patel, that meant time learning to act as WE ARE ALL EAST BALTIMORE NEWS FROM JOHNS HOPKINS NURSING

DNP student Khushbu Patel recognizes
pushes you out of your comfort zone.” For
a good thing when she’s got it
a hospitalist, keying on “How can we get
the patient home quickly and safely?” vs.
focusing on a specific organ, illness, or type
BY STEVE ST. ANGELO
care advocate. And right now, she’s in the
t wasn’t the greatest way to fall in love
neuro intensive care unit, because Slater
I with health care. Back then, Khushbu
NEWS FROM JOHNS HOPKINS NURSING
says so. It’s not easy to transition back and
Patel, now a student in the Doctor of of nursing—the ultimate patient and health
Nursing Practice Adult-Gerontology Acute forth, but Patel has embraced the challenge
Care Track, was just a teen with a very sick and learned a lot about her own flexibility
grandfather at Inova Fairfax, a hospital as well.
in Northern Virginia. A heart bypass and
resulting complications kept him and his “I just try to trust the process and give each
adoring granddaughter at the hospital rotation a chance, and I’ve been surprised
for an extended stay. Grandfather would at every step,” she explains. “You’re so
eventually be discharged and depart
as good as new. Granddaughter would
witnessed and the friendship of a nurse she “I just try to trust the
be changed forever—by the care she

bonded with during that time. In fact, she process … and I’ve been
would never really leave.
“The hospital is sort of a weird second home surprised at every step.”
18 19 19

of mine,” says Patel (daughter of and sister
to physicians). She began volunteering at
age 13, attended the University of Virginia, well-rounded when you come out of this
developed a crush on the idea of becoming program. You learn to handle so many
a flight nurse (“the rock star thing” … it scenarios.”
never panned out), attended Marymount
University in Alexandria, VA, and then went And back at Inova Fairfax, though she
to work as an RN … right back where she doesn’t fly off to the rescue in medical
started, at Inova Fairfax. choppers, Patel has become something of
a rock star anyway. She’s noticed that, as
“My grandfather was so proud when he she moves toward a doctorate, colleagues
JOHNS HOPKINS NURSING FALL/WINTER 2020
heard I got a job there,” Patel says. and supervisors look at her in a new light. “I
still don’t feel any different,” Patel says. But
And the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing as she works to complete her DNP project—
saw to it that she wouldn’t have to leave within her own hospital unit—co-workers
to earn her DNP. Patel credits Assistant notice her growth.
Professor Tammy Slater for leadership,
Read more flexibility, and creativity in finding clinical “My supervisor will ask, ‘What’s your DNP
profiles sites in Washington, DC and Virginia, which perspective on that?’ ”
from the We
Are All East allowed Patel to maintain her residence
Baltimore in Fairfax Station, VA and her standing at Patel’s perspective: That’s pretty cool. ◼ MAGAZINE.NURSING.JHU.EDU
series at Inova Fairfax.
magazine.
nursing.jhu.
edu/meetus “She looks at you and what your background
PHOTO BY CHRIS HARTLOVE is,” Patel says of Slater, “and then she
MAGAZINE.NURSING.JHU.EDU