By Cameron Reichenbach / The Jambar
Senior nursing major Natasha Nyahalay Sombie is combining faith, compassion and clinical training from Youngstown State University during her internship at the University of Chicago Medicine AdventHealth in Illinois.
Sombie has spent her time at YSU building the skills and experience needed for hospital nursing that she applied during the internship.
Sombie entered the nursing program in 2023 and said her confidence in nursing has grown with each semester.
“Each semester that passes by, I’m like, concrete in the purpose,” Sombie said. “Like, okay, yes, this is what I want to do.”
During her last summer as an undergraduate, Sombie said she decided it was time to begin searching for an internship. The search led Sombie to find and accept a nurse technician position at AdventHealth, a position that allowed her to work closely with nurses while taking on direct patient care responsibilities.
Alongside her academic training and clinical experience, Sombie said her faith plays an important role in how she approaches nursing and patient care. She said she was drawn to AdventHealth because its values aligned with her own approach to caregiving.
“I loved that AdventHealth is a faith-based system,” Sombie said. “Their mission is literally extending the healing ministry of Christ, and that really aligned with my beliefs about caring for and healing people.”
Sombie said her faith helps guide how she interacts with patients and reinforces the compassion she brings to both her work at AdventHealth and her training at YSU.
“Pretty much everything I’ve learned so far in nursing school was what I was required to do during my internship,” Sombie said.
At AdventHealth, Sombie worked on a medical-surgical unit, where she said her YSU coursework and clinical rotations prepared her for the hospital environment.
Sombie credited YSU’s nursing program with helping her smoothly transition into the role.
“All the skills that I gathered from the classroom, like the theoretics, and practicing at clinical, I was able to use there, which kind of made me stand out a little bit,” Sombie said
Sombie regularly uses skills such as IV intersection, Foley catheter placement and medical administration. Sombie also emphasized the importance of patient safety, something consistently reinforced at YSU.
“They have like this standard of nursing education, like this is what is supposed to be done. Remember, patient safety,” Sombie said.
While working at AdventHealth, Sombie said she focused on building connections with patients.
“I see patients to be more than an ID band,” she said. “They’re actual people that have lives, they have stories.”
Sombie said small actions often make a difference for patients’ comfort.
“If they’re going into surgery and they’re scared, like giving them a warm smile, like closing the curtains to protect their dignity,” Sombie said. “I’m just like listening actively.”
Sombie said that several moments confirmed for her that nursing was the right path. She recalled caring for a patient undergoing dialysis who was struggling emotionally.
“The matter of fact of me being present and actually listening to her,” Sombie said. “She would tell me after, ‘I really appreciate this.’”
As her internship came to an end, Sombie said hospital staff recognized her work and were excited for her to come back.
“When I was leaving, they made sure to make me feel really appreciated,” she said. “The nurse managers, they were like, ‘I’m looking forward to seeing you next year.’”
She then received an invitation to apply for AdventHealth’s nurse residency program.
Reflecting on her time at YSU, Sombie said the university helped her understand her direction as a nursing student.
“YSU helped me understand why,” Sombie said. “My purpose is helping people feel safe, cared for and supported.”
Through her academic career and hands-on experience at AdventHealth, Sombie continues to prepare for a future in hospital nursing.