Dr. Amanda Orme (DNP, APRN, FNP–C, CPNP–AC), a BYU College of Nursing alumna, is this year’s recipient of the Alumni Achievement Award. This is a prestigious honor given yearly to BYU alumni who have gone on to make a positive difference both in their profession and their community at large. Dr. Orme certainly fits the bill, having graduated from BYU as a Family Nurse Practitioner with a Master of Science degree and working as the APP Director of Pediatric Emergency Care at Intermountain Health.
She was invited to address the BYU nursing community during Homecoming Week. Speaking to the student body and faculty, she shared about the importance of leadership in the nursing field, as well as the bravery and commitment to the practice that are necessary to develop leadership skills. She emphasized that such skills don’t come overnight, but come through the day-to-day joys and challenges all nurses face. “Throughout my career, my leadership has been built on those moments that are meaningful and special,” she reflected.
During more than 25 years at Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital, Dr. Orme has risen to lead a team of fifteen advanced practice providers as they perform emergency care for children. She’s become a leader among her peers through years of new challenges and has the scars to prove it. At this point in her speech, she displayed a photo of a surfer conquering a gargantuan wave and went on to share some of those scars: the hurdles she’s overcome during her career that have led her to where she is now.
Dr. Orme was very open about the first difficulty she faced in her nursing journey: simply getting accepted into BYU’s nursing program. This feat alone seemed larger than life at the time, and she explained that she wasn’t successful the first time she tried. In her words, “I had to regroup, retake classes, and then try again.” She was successful the second time around, but her acceptance came only after plenty of diligent effort to gain experience and become more capable. Reflecting on her experience applying to nursing school, she gave students some powerful advice:
Having a growth mindset, persistence, and seeking better understanding will help us.
Problem-solving and persistence have been consistent themes in Dr. Orme’s nursing career. She remarked on a particularly unorthodox day at the hospital when, upon treating a patient who had suffered a severe lawnmower accident, she was instructed to apply leeches -- that’s right, live leeches -- to the patient’s fingertips! To her surprise, what many would consider to be an outdated, grotesque medicinal practice was now her task for the day. Dr. Orme remembers experiencing a nervous breakdown; never in her life had she been asked to do something so foreign. She considered throwing in the towel right then and there, but mustered all her courage and determination and was able to complete the task at hand. “What I learned that day is that I can do anything with gloves on,” she said lightheartedly.
What is it that got Dr. Orme through the leech experience without a total breakdown? Her unwavering desire to help patients. That determination has propelled her forward, not only at the bedside but in all aspects of being a nursing leader.
Dr. Orme went on to talk about having to deliver bad news to patients’ families, a task that may warrant more nausea than leech placement. She recalled one instance when she’d gotten close to the mother of a child she was treating. A serious problem was discovered, and it came time to inform the anxious mother. Dr. Orme’s shift was about to end, and she could’ve easily passed this difficult task on to the incoming nurse, but she felt she had to do it herself. So, she once again mustered her courage and delivered the news, taking time to console the mother. Looking back, she feels she did the right thing, quoting the poet George Herbert: “Good words are worth much and cost little.”
Nursing is a complicated field, and without capable leaders and dedicated personnel, patients won’t get the quality care they need. Dr. Orme’s message was one that nurses everywhere will relate to; no one in the clinical setting is sheltered from the rough waves. That said, Dr. Orme’s message is also one of resounding hope for students - hope that they can conquer those waves and emerge as better, more capable leaders. As such, nursing students and staff are invited to grab their proverbial surfboards and approach the waves without fear.