August 5, 2016
This year’s Ohio recipient of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners’ prestigious Award for Excellence is grateful for the Ursuline College education that gave her a lifelong love of nursing.
Lynnette (Natale) Nied ’81, MSN, CNP, runs a busy and successful Cleveland Clinic primary care practice but has never forgotten her Ursuline foundation.
“The environment at Ursuline meant a lot to me,” Nied said. “That’s where I got the encouragement and the belief in myself that I can do anything. The faculty were awesome and very supportive, not only in the classroom but in the clinical setting.”According to her patients and peers, Nied’s expertise transcends clinical skills. They describe a highly competent nurse practitioner who also happens to be caring and compassionate.
“I often have people ask me why I’m not a doctor and I think it is really Ursuline that taught me the love of nursing and it’s Ursuline that taught me what it is to be a nurse,” Nied said. “I have a huge practice; I’m busy. But as a nurse, I have the opportunity to touch lives every single day. To me it’s about being clinically excellent, but it’s also about that relationship with patients. I learned about being caring and giving at Ursuline. That’s what nursing is.”
Associate Dean of Undergraduate Nursing Programs Laura M. Goliat, DNP, RN, FNP-BC, spent 300 hours working under Nied when Goliat was studying at Ursuline to be a family nurse practitioner.
“I knew she was well-respected but until I spent time with her, I could not have guessed what she means to nursing and as a representative of Ursuline in the community,” Goliat said. “She is an incredible testament to the knowledge, critical thinking ability, skills, and compassion needed to be a top-notch nurse and nurse practitioner. She cares so very much for people and I heard many times in rounding with her – from physicians, nurses, and patients alike – that she was one-in-a-million and exemplified the knowledge and compassion needed to be one of the most excellent primary care providers they knew.”
Nied, who earned her bachelor of science degree in nursing (BSN) from Ursuline in 1981, is a nurse practitioner at Cleveland Clinic Twinsburg Family Health and Surgery Center. She was featured in the summer issue of the Cleveland Clinic’s Health Essentials magazine, which quotes one of Nied’s patients describing her as a “godsend.”
The American Academy of Nurse Practitioners’ Award for Excellence is presented each year to one nurse practitioner in each state who has demonstrated excellence in clinical practice. Nied was presented with the award at the AANP Conference in San Antonio in June. She also will be recognized at the Ohio Association of Advanced Practice Nurses statewide conference in Columbus in October.
