Celebrating Nurses 2009 : Cynthia E. Knust
Celebrating Nurses 2009 : Cynthia E. Knust
She has that special 'nurse’s intuition'
Special Sections Writer
The hours aren't so hot, but otherwise being a night nurse is a pretty cushy job, right? Wrong. Just ask Cynthia Knust, RN, a veteran nurse with the medical-surgical unit at Moses Cone Hospital in Greensboro.
"At night, a lot of people's misconception is, 'What do you do all night? Because your patients are asleep.' And that is not true," Knust said. "If we have older patients, they're awake at night, maybe because they're confused with being in different surroundings. ... Pain tends to be more in the forefront of people's minds at night, because it is quieter, and they don't have the distractions. So you're giving more pain medicines. There may be dressings that need to be changed several times a day, and sometimes those occur during the night or early morning hours."
But Knust, 61, appreciates the flexible hours and variety that comes with her job. She works weekends so she can stay home during the week and take care of her granddaughters.
"I've almost always worked in the med-surg area," said Knust, a Maryland native who has worked at Cone since she moved to North Carolina in 1986. "I've worked in telemetry, I've worked in a diabetic unit, I've worked in a recovery room, but the majority of my time has been med-surg. I like it for the diversity of the patients, and my favorite patient population is surgical patients."
Unlike some patients with chronic conditions, she said, surgery patients are motivated to make a change for the better.
"They come in to get something fixed," Knust said. "They need their appendix out, they need their leg amputated, they need their hernia repaired. They're here to get it done, and get on with it and get out of here."
Whatever her patients' issues, they can count on Knust to make them feel "comfortable and secure," according to a couple of her fellow registered nurse at Cone, Jill Moore and Frances Pleasant, who nominated Knust.
"All nurses care for their patients, but Cynthia has always gone the extra mile for her patients to make sure they are cared for in an exceptional way," Moore wrote. "She has developed that special 'nurse's intuition,' being able to recognize subtle changes in patient condition and acting quickly to assist them."
Knust has wanted to take care of people since she was a teenager. She watched a teenage boy in her neighborhood die of bone cancer, and it made a lasting impression.
"I think that is what tipped the scales that nursing is what I wanted to," Knust said. "I've been doing it ever since. It'll be 40 years in June since I graduated from school."
- Debra Allen , Rockingham Co. Health Dept
- Diane Bell, Randolph Cancer Center
- Thomas Brown, Randolph Hospital
- Leslie Butcher, Brenner's Children's Hospital
- Lenora D. Clapp, NC Dept of Corrections
- Cynthia E. Knust, Moses Cone Health Systems
- Marsha Roddenberry, High Point Regional
- Marsha Long, Carolina Medical Center
- Jan Parker, Hospice of Greensboro
- Sarah Turner, Kids Path/Hospice
