Nursing Student Earns AMC Patient Safety Award

October 16, 2024

Second year HVCC Nursing student Lauren Kirschenbaum recently received the Patient Safety Hero award at Albany Medical Center.

While participating in her med/surg clinical rotations earlier this semester, Lauren recognized a patient in distress and performed the Heimlich Maneuver, a move that helped save that patient’s life.

A health care professional for the past decade, Nursing isn’t Lauren’s first Hudson Valley allied health degree. She’s a 2016 graduate from the college’s Invasive Cardiovascular Technology program and has been working in the Albany Medical Center’s cardiac catheterization lab for nine years.

“I love working in the cath lab. I get to help save people’s lives,” she said.

Gaining her Nursing degree, however, will allow her to continue her career in the cath lab and broaden the duties and responsibilities she can take on professionally.

“At this point in my career, I’m at the top of my clinical ladder, so I wanted to have a broader scope of practice and enhance my career a little more,” she said. “Finishing this nursing degree will allow me to do more things in the cath lab, which is where I want to stay.”

Lauren said the incident that led to her recognition took place during her medical/surgical clinical rotation at Albany Med. She was helping someone when a patient in an adjacent room began choking. “I called for help and then just realized that I had to do the Heimlich Maneuver.”

Having to weigh whether or not to wait for help, she decided to act. “I just did it,” she said.

The following week, when she returned for her clinical rotations, one of the nurses in the unit told her she’d nominated her for the Patient Safety Hero award. A few weeks later, she was honored by staff from the hospital. Nursing Department Chair Jodi Dorrough and School of Health Sciences Dean Patricia Klimkewicz joined her for the recognition ceremony on Sept. 20.

“I’m very happy that Lauren was able to get the recognition she deserves for her quick thinking and decisive action while on her clinical rotations,” Dean Klimkewicz said. “Albany Med takes the time and the initiative to recognize its focus on patient safety, and we’re honored that one of our student nurses was chosen for that recognition.”