Megan Pace, RN, MSN, a nurse in the Intensive Care Unit at Mount Sinai Beth Israel
Megan Pace, RN, MSN, has been a nurse in the Intensive Care Unit at Mount Sinai Beth Israel since 2010. According to Maria LaTrace, RN, BSN, MSN, Senior Nursing Director, Patient Care Service at the hospital, Megan has always been a source of reliable and dependable guidance to her peers and is considered the “go to” for precepting and onboarding new nurses to the unit.
Within the past year, Megan has been a preceptor on almost every shift. Maria says that Megan displays tireless enthusiasm, patience, and diligence with the new staff members. “She is able to find the energy to make every single one of them feel that she or he is her priority.”
“It’s important to understand that nursing is more than just giving medications and charting at a computer, you have to remember there is a person and their loved ones on the receiving end of your care.”
Despite the incredible strain and cumulative burden of the past two years in ICU nursing, Megan is the “voice of reason” on her unit, Maria says. “She brings a measured sense of calm to every situation, which is invaluable for her orientees to witness, in that they see how to use rational, logical, and evidence-based reasoning in all decisions.”
That is certainly the case for one of Megan’s orientees, Jasmine Brinson, RN, BSN.
“Megan has been a great contributor to my smooth transition from medical surgical nursing to critical care. Venturing into a new specialty can be challenging and overwhelming, but Megan was always patient with me and encouraged me to ask as many questions as possible,” Jasmine says. “During my first week off orientation, I was so overwhelmed and felt unsure of myself. Megan was working on the opposite side of the unit, and she literally dropped everything and came to assist me, at the same time reassuring me that I was doing just fine.”
Having been a teacher before she moved into nursing, Megan feels she is perfectly suited to the role of preceptor.
“I have had some great role models throughout my career, and I have always strived to emulate their behaviors and make sure I am modeling those same behaviors for my orientees,” she says. “I think being a good role model is a key characteristic of being a good preceptor. It’s important to understand that nursing is more than just giving medications and charting at a computer, you have to remember there is a person and their loved ones on the receiving end of your care. When precepting, I try to stress the importance of the social and emotional aspect of nursing to my orientees. It is important they make it just as much of a priority as giving that medication or charting blood pressure.”
She adds, “These past two years have been rough for health care workers, but knowing that patients and their families appreciate my care makes it all worthwhile.”