Naomi Jones, the department chair for the practical nursing program at Ivy Tech Community College, was one of four nurses in the nation to receive ATI Nursing Education’s Nurse’s Touch Award. 800 applications were received, and Jones’ teaching techniques really stood out amongst the other applicants.
Referring to the Nurse’s Touch Award, Jones tells TheHeraldBulletin.com, “I’m really humbled. I feel it’s really a privilege for me to teach my passion. I’m really happy for Ivy Tech. We have a really awesome program here.”
For Jones, being a teacher offers the best of both worlds in nursing. After earning her BSN in 2000 from Ball State University, Jones became a parish nurse which allowed her to use a holistic approach to health within a faith-based community. Holistic nursing taught her the bedside manner she works hard to convey to students. Every lecture Jones teaches touches on patients and care.
Jones’ years as a nurse at the bedside brought her a passion for cardiac and respiratory patients before she pursued her love of teaching. After working as a clinical nurse for over a decade, she went back to school to earn her Master’s Degree in Nursing Education at Walden University in 2014. While in school, she came to Ivy Tech as an assistant nursing instructor in 2010 and worked her way up to department chair this year.
Naomi now credits her success to her family, including her husband and two daughters who have provided a support system while she earned her master’s degree and became a nurse educator, as well as her sister who earned her nursing degree at Ivy Tech, and her mom who was a preschool and elementary school teacher. Jones says, “I don’t feel that you ever get to a certain place or get recognition without people along the path…My love of teaching probably came from [my mother].”
The ATI Nursing Education’s Nurse’s Touch Award is intended to improve interpersonal communication between nurses and their patients. To learn more about ATI and their recent award recipient Naomi Jones, visit here.
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