Kenkel wins nursing fellowship

Nursing student gets on-the-job training

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Working with cancer patients takes a strong, selfless and compassionate person, and each day Brianna Kenkel is growing more confident that she is that person.
Kenkel, 21, is one of two fellows in the highly competitive, eight-week Susan D. Flynn Oncology Nursing Development Program at Stamford Hospital in Connecticut. Originally from Glen Cove, she is entering her senior year in Fairfield University’s undergraduate nursing program.
In memory of his wife, who died of ovarian cancer in 2013, Fred Flynn developed the fellowship to stimulate the career interest and foster the professional development of potential oncology nurses.
In her senior year of high school at Long Island Lutheran in Glen Head, Kenkel had to decide on the direction in which she would take her career. “I wanted to pick a career path where I could work with people on a daily basis,” she said. “In nursing, you can go into so many different directions.”
After watching her grandmother and uncle suffer from cancer, Kenkel said she was inspired by their nurses. “I was in awe of the respect and compassion with which the nurses delivered their care,” she said. “The way they treated my family as their own, all while radiating a sense of hope through the toughest times, inspired me to try and be that person.”

She knew the fellowship would offer her an important opportunity, because relatively few nursing programs have an oncology component.
Kenkel said that working as a nurse gives her the rare opportunity to help people at the times when they are most vulnerable. “I love getting to know people, and if I can bring a smile to their face, then I did my job,” she said.
As with any profession, the hands-on experiences Kenkel has had have been most valuable. Midway through the fellowship, she has learned more than in her three years of nursing school, she said.
“The experience has been amazing, to say the least,” she said excitedly. “That firsthand experience of working directly with patients has really opened my eyes.”
Each day, the fellows work closely with oncology nurses and are involved in the medical and surgical aspects of the job, including research, chemotherapy, radiation, infusion, palliative care, as well as hospice and family and patient support programs.
Most of all, Kenkel said, she enjoys working with patients and getting to know them. “People have the most amazing stories, especially in this unit,” she said, noting that she is inspired by their strength and humbled that she is allowed into their lives. “I walk away with a sense of gratitude every day. And I know I’ll walk away from the unit keeping their stories with me.”
The most difficult part of her work she said is the emotional challenge that comes with helping patients decide on their end-of-life care. “It’s hard to let go sometimes,” Kenkel said. “But at the same time, it’s great to see in those moments the amount of support there is. Part of being a nurse is being there for these people when they’re going through these times.”
When faced with emotional difficulties, Kenkel said, she talks with family members and friends, who are supportive and helpful.
Having a sense of humor is another vital lesson she has learned during her fellowship. “You have to look at the positive, even when it seems like there’s no hope,” she said. “It makes a big impact in the way you feel and the way your patients feel. You can never let them think that you’re going to give up on them.”
The Susan D. Flynn Oncology Nursing Development Program started at Stamford Hospital four years ago, and has since been replicated at hospitals up and down the East Coast.
Out of more than 20 applicants, only two or three are chosen as fellows each year. A panel, and Flynn himself, make the decisions.
Mary McKiernan, Stamford Hospital’s director of professional development, said that the program has remained relatively unchanged but continues to evolve based on fellows’ feedback. “We love being able to orient them to Stamford, and we want them to come back and work for us,” McKiernan said.
As for her future, Kenkel has no definitive plans, but said that her certainty that she will become an oncology nurse is growing, thanks to the fellowship. “As a specialty that is continually changing with new advancements in treatment,” she said. “I know oncology will always challenge me to grow.”