http://www.cincinnatichildrens.org

I am a nurse. I am a nurse. I am a nurse. A people person. A teacher. A leader. A friendly face. A team member. Committed. Lifesaver. An educator. A care provider. Honest. Loving. Passionate. There for families. A professional. A listener. A hero. I am a nurse.

My name is Anthony Zaya, and my role here is a specialty resource nurse. Part of the float pool, so anywhere there are needs is where I go. Also, one day a week, I will do clinical instruction for the University of Cincinnati.

One of my best friends, when we were 13 or 14 years old, dove into one of our friend's pools and he crushed his C3, C4 vertebrae and became a quadriplegic. I was fortunate to become educated and was able to be his independent provider for some time. My call to nursing was born.

What's unique here is that, as a specialty resource nurse, I'm able to float to all the different units. And then, as an instructor, you know, be current with what we're doing in the education of handson patient care.

So, a good nurse is someone who just has a passion for people. We want to give them a broad holistic view of how to do a correct assessment and be aware of, you know, all the things that are holistically going to care for their patient. They're so interested in the skills of being able to start an IV or drop in a Gtube or run the pumps. They're so concerned with those. When really, you know, I want to teach them the art of nursing, the importance of noticing those little things, and being motivated to provide, not just great patient care, you always get great patient care at this hospital, but to try to elevate their thinking to provide extraordinary care and making the hospital experience not something that's scary, but something that's comforting.

There was one day when I was in the room, and I don't think I was doing anything special or in particular, I was just checking in on him and this is a 16yearold boy, and he looked at me and he said, "You know what, Tony? You're my favorite nurse." And I was like, "Oh, that's awesome. That's great, you know. Thank you for the compliment." I said, "Why do you say that?" And he'd say, "You're always there when I need you." And, man, that was awesome.

My name is Anthony and I'm a nurse.