Jessica Clifton, Atrium Wake Forest Baptist Health

"I like to help people, and I guess I like to try to make bad days better for people, if that makes sense, which is why I ended up in the Emergency Department," said Clifton, who was chosen through online voting as a 2023 Triad Nurse of Distinction community favorite.

"A lot of times we see people on their worst day, and not that we can fix that for them, but we can make the experience for them the best we can."

Clifton’s “experience, knowledge and extreme effort allow her to provide the best patient care while managing operations in a Level 1 Trauma Center environment,” said Chuck DeLoid, who nominated her for the honor.

At first, Clifton wanted to be a doctor.

"And not that they don't get to help people, but I like actually being able to be around the people and their family members more,” Clifton said. “We get more contact with them than the physicians do because they have so many patients."

She took a class in high school that looked at different areas in the medical field.

"Once I had done some shadowing and stuff, that's where i realized I just wanted to do nursing instead."

She appreciates the fast pace of working in the Emergency Department. "I like the chaos of it, you never know what you're going to see, you never know what's going to come through the door, that kind of thing," she said. "I like to stay busy, and obviously this is the place to stay busy. There's never a dull moment."

She finds it rewarding when patients or family members say “I'm glad you were my nurse” or “Oh, you smile a lot; I can tell you really like your job.”

“The medical field in and of itself is stressful and hard, and I always say 'We have to be here for 12 hours, we might as well make it as best we can for our patients and our coworkers,” Clifton said.

"It is a difficult field to work in because we see so much …So I want to help in the best way i can, knowing it's something I'm passionate about. I feel like we do get to make a big difference for people because we see them in such a critical time."