Nurse of the Week: BSN Student Tiffany Hansen is Already On Duty

Most nursing students are eager for opportunities to treat real patients, and sometimes, opportunity knocks much sooner than they might have expected. If you keep your eyes and ears open—and have top-notch study skills like our Nurse of the Week, Warwick, RI BSN-to-be Tiffany Hansen—you might end up acting as a first responder just a few months after starting classes.

Yesterday evening, on Tuesday, March 23, while driving home from school, Hansen told local ABC reporters, “I heard tires screeching. I thought it was just a fender bender or something. I definitely wasn’t expecting someone to be on the ground.” And just like that, she had her very first patient. A 25-year-old motorcyclist had crashed into a car, and was lying in the road, helmetless and severely injured.

Nurse of the Week, BSN student Tiffany Hansen (ABC6, Rhode Island). — Nursing student Tiffany Hansen talks to ABC6 in Rhode Island.

Four months into her nursing school education, if the freshman felt especially fresh at that moment, she certainly approached the scene like a pro. Hansen assessed the situation and mentally scanned her class notes as she went over to her patient to check his breathing and pulse. “I made sure the scene was secure. There were other bystanders, another guy; I had him stop the traffic and call 911, [and] I had another girl help me keep his head and neck aligned.” Thanks to the aid of Hansen and other bystanders, the young man arrived at the hospital in stable condition (and will hopefully reconsider the value of wearing a helmet after his recovery).

Ironically, for Hansen the experience must have resembled a particularly gruesome pop quiz. A few hours ago, in class, “My teacher, she was just talking about how if you see something, not even just as a nursing student, but a person, you stop and do something. Even if it’s just making sure they’re not alone and calling 911.” Hansen, who has a young toddler, added, “I would never want someone just driving by my son if that was my son in the road.”