Master of Science in Nursing student receives Nurses Educational Funds Scholarship.
Nicole Williams, MSN student, is one of 32 recipients nationwide of a 2022 - 23 Nurses Educational Funds Scholarship for graduate nursing students. She earned her undergraduate degree in biology from Washington College in Maryland in 2019 and her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from UMSON in 2020. She is now enrolled full time in UMSON's Master of Science in Nursing Health Services Leadership and Management (HSLM) specialty.
Williams is a registered nurse in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU) at the University of Maryland Medical Center. She loves the variety of patients that she is privileged to provide care to and for all the ways in which she has been challenged – intellectually, emotionally, and professionally.
She believes that working through the COVID-19 pandemic has helped shape her into a more resilient, adaptable, and capable nurse. She is chair of the SICU unit’s Safety, Quality, and Service committee and deeply involved in the unit’s resuscitation processes. She has recently implemented a process improvement project that she hopes will significantly improve the accuracy of code event documentation on the SICU and improve staff’s confidence and competence during emergency events.
Nicole is part of the unit’s mentorship program, an experienced preceptor, and a Resiliency in Stressful Events (RISE) Peer Responder. She is also a volunteer for Baltimore Votes and is seeking ways to help improve access to health care in her local community. Nicole chose UMSON’s MSN HSLM specialty to advance her career and gain knowledge about the financial, political, and operational forces that govern hospitals and health care systems.
Nicole is passionate about health policy and is eager to leverage the momentum of her career and education to help improve access to health care for all. She firmly believes that nurses, better than anyone, can accept and understand people in the context of their circumstances and advocate for those without a voice. After graduation, Nicole will be applying for several health policy fellowships in Washington, D.C. and is hoping to apply to George Washington University’s post-master’s DNP in Health Policy program. Her goal is to help create a more equitable health care system; improve access to primary preventative care; and advocate for women’s health care rights.