Alumni in Action: Hannah Henry

From college peer advisor to new Buckeye Nurse

by Luciana Pereyra

You may remember Hannah Henry, RN, from the print version of  Transformations In Nursing and Health, Spring 2025, in which she brandished a super-sized pencil in a photo from our Signing Day event to celebrate graduating seniors going on to work at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. At that time, she was a peer advisor at the College of Nursing.

“What’s really funny is I cannot get away from that job,” Henry says now. “The people skills, the communications skills I learned in that role, I’m using as a nurse.” Her compassion for others has transferred to her new position on the neurological critical care unit.

“I feel like I’ve gotten to see it all and it’s only week seven,” Henry said. The 12-month Buckeye Nurse Residency Program she’s in is helping her refresh her skills. “There’s a lot of things that I might have learned in nursing school three years ago, but I don’t remember anymore. It’s been good to have those classes,” Henry said. She enjoys being paired with old classmates within this program. She will be rotating between three months of night shifts and three months of day shifts until July 2026.

Henry feels as if she had a pre-orientation, because last spring she was precepted on the same floor in the float pool ICU where she’s now working. It’s not exactly the same, though. “I have more autonomy and I’m also thinking through things on my own before I go to my preceptor,” she said. Orientation is structured on levels of care. “Once you get more comfortable and prove that you can do certain skills, you’re able to take on harder patients.”

She likes night shift because she has quiet time to learn with fewer disruptions from other people. “I like to describe myself as a chronic sleeper. I can sleep whenever I need to. But I’ve actually really enjoyed night shift. I know people are scared of it. But I really like it,” Henry said.

Her job can be hard sometimes when patients she has taken care of pass away. At other times, patients and families lift her spirits. “It’s nice when a family gives you positive feedback,” she said. “It makes me feel like, ‘Okay, I might have felt lost, but at least they didn’t think I was lost. They had a positive experience with me.’ And that always makes my day.”

To balance night shift, she sticks to a sleep schedule and plans one fun thing every week to stay motivated. She wants to stay in her floor for a few years to learn everything about neurology and critical care. 

Henry is grateful for the support she received from The Ohio State University College of Nursing Scholarship Fund as an undergraduate and she looks forward to continuing her nursing studies someday. Her future plans include going back to school for a Doctor of Nursing Education degree.

“I want to teach, whether it’s didactically or in the clinical setting,” she said. “I love nursing students.”

Scholarship giving

You can create a scholarship to honor someone in your family, to express your gratitude to the college or to help a student like Hannah achieve her nursing dreams.

To learn more, contact:

Courtney Shaul
Executive Director of Development
shaul.8@osu.edu
614-688-1086

Or visit nursing.osu.edu/giving/ways-give.