{"id":26106,"date":"2018-07-23T12:22:44","date_gmt":"2018-07-23T17:22:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/?p=26106"},"modified":"2018-07-23T12:22:44","modified_gmt":"2018-07-23T17:22:44","slug":"serving-patients-and-their-families-lifts-apsu-nursing-student-to-prestigious-vanderbilt-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/2018\/07\/23\/serving-patients-and-their-families-lifts-apsu-nursing-student-to-prestigious-vanderbilt-award\/","title":{"rendered":"Serving patients and their families lifts APSU nursing student to prestigious Vanderbilt award"},"content":{"rendered":"

Austin Peay State University (APSU)<\/h2>\n

\"AustinClarksville, TN<\/strong> – When Austin Peay State University nursing student Hunter Burkhart was 8 years old, his dad suffered a heart attack. When Hunter was 9 years old, his dad suffered a stroke.<\/p>\n

Those events arrested life for Hunter and his family. They spent weeks in the hospital, caring for his father. The memories will never fade.<\/p>\n

\"Austin<\/a>

Austin Peay State University nursing student Hunter Burkhart won Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Credo Award in the critical care track during a summer internship at the hospital. (Denzil Wyatt)<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

But that time in the hospital also left an indelible mark on Hunter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe nurses who were there, they took care of us,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dad was pretty sick, and they tried to make me feel better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those days in the hospital, when Hunter was 8 and 9 years old, were when he first realized he wanted to be a nurse. The desire clung to him through high school and brought him to Austin Peay State University, where he\u2019s set to graduate from the nursing program in December.<\/p>\n

Signs point to Hunter being a top-notch nurse too.<\/p>\n

Vanderbilt University Medical Center awarded him one of its top honors, the Credo Award, during its summer internship program. He earned the award by exhibiting Vanderbilt\u2019s core behaviors \u2013 among them making those you serve your highest priority \u2013 at the hospital\u2019s Vanderbilt Experience: Student Nurse Internship Program, or VESNIP. He won the award working with critical care patients.<\/p>\n

\u2018I want to be there for them\u2019<\/h3>\n

One theme recurs when Hunter talks about nursing: \u201cMake lives just a little bit easier\u201d for patients and their families \u2013 and on fellow nurses.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to do what I can,\u201d he said. \u201cI want to go above and beyond with the families, because I\u2019ve been in that situation, with having family in the hospital.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The patients Burkhart served during the internship reconnected him to how nurses treated him and his family while his father was in the hospital after suffering a heart attack and stroke. (Denzil Wyatt)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cIt really hits home, and I want to treat them how I was treated back then.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back then, nurses gave him a Popsicle while his dad lay suffering in a hospital bed. Hunter has gotten to pay forward the favor multiple times, and he will hundreds of times in the future.<\/p>\n

But one patient stood out this summer at Vanderbilt.<\/p>\n

In Hunter\u2019s words: \u201cThere was one patient I had this summer in the ICU at Vanderbilt who wasn\u2019t doing well, and his family decided to stop life support. It was hard to see how the whole family was taking the death of their family member.<\/p>\n

[320left]\u201cI wanted to stay there with them in case they had any questions about what was going on or if they just wanted someone to talk to. I wanted to be there for them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat experience motivated me to not forget about the family when you\u2019re working with the patients. You\u2019re not just working with that one patient, but you\u2019re also trying to take care of the whole family and the patient.\u201d<\/p>\n

The connection hit Hunter hard.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean it really reinforced everything I came into this program at Austin Peay for,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt brought me back to that moment when (the nurses) would always ask if I wanted a Popsicle, just something small, not really that big a deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Austin Peay nursing students at VESNIP<\/h3>\n

Participating in Vanderbilt\u2019s VESNIP is a big deal.<\/p>\n

APSU sent 16 nursing students to the prestigious summer internship, and as you know, Hunter Burkhart won a Credo Award in the critical care track.<\/p>\n

This is the 13th year of participation in VESNIP for the Austin Peay School of Nursing. VESNIP provides intense clinical experiences for select senior-level nursing students.<\/p>\n

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