{"id":117234,"date":"2019-12-02T17:33:22","date_gmt":"2019-12-03T00:33:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=117234"},"modified":"2019-12-28T16:32:59","modified_gmt":"2019-12-28T23:32:59","slug":"unsung-hero-diane-busch-wins-employee-of-the-quarter-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=117234","title":{"rendered":"“Unsung hero” Diane Busch wins Employee of the Quarter Award"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/a>
Diane Busch, the winner of the winter quarter\u2019s Employee of the Quarter award, is a program assistant for the graduate nursing program in the Helen and Arthur E. Johnson Beth-El College of Nursing and Health Sciences. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When Debbie Schultze nominated her colleague Diane Busch for the Employee of the Quarter Award, she wrote in her nomination letter, \u201cYou can\u2019t be around Diane and not want to bring your best as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Busch, the winner of the winter quarter\u2019s Employee of the Quarter award, is a program assistant for the graduate nursing program in the Helen and Arthur E. Johnson Beth-El College of Nursing and Health Sciences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\u2019s spent nearly 18 years managing student enrollment for the department, which, over the last few years, has \u201cincreased from roughly 28 students per semester to more than 75,\u201d wrote Schultze. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the heart of her job isn\u2019t just in enrollment \u2013 it\u2019s in recruiting prospective students, mentoring those students already enrolled in the program, and coordinating the 630 practicum hours that each graduate student must complete in a clinical setting in the community. She helps develop new courses and programs of study. She ensures that the program’s accreditation process runs smoothly. She processes all leave of absences, and is in many ways is a counselor for those students who are struggling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Schultze wrote in her nomination letter, \u201cI was hired to help Diane carry a load that, as I understand the position more clearly every day, I cannot believe she was managing alone \u2013 and with a smile on her face and a level of kindness that is rare to find.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much of Busch’s day is spent supporting UCCS’ graduate nursing students, who are working towards becoming full-fledged nurse practitioners. By then end of their clinical rotations, those nurse practitioners see patients, make clinical diagnoses, plan treatments for patients and make recommendations for pharmacological treatment. \u201cBy the time they\u2019re done,\u201d Busch says, \u201cthey\u2019re actively seeing a full load of patients with minimum supervision.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In order for each student to complete the 630 practicum hours required by the graduate nursing program, Busch must compile placement agreements to settle students at their clinical rotations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have about 1,300 active contracts right now,\u201d she said. \u201cThere are different processes for different facilities to get the rotation requested and approved.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Debi O’Connor, director of campus compliance and member of the Employee of the Quarter Award committee, presents Busch with her award. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Her work ranges from navigating HIPAA regulations to making sure that students meet compliance requirements and have all of the necessary immunizations and licensures \u2013 like blood-borne pathogens training \u2013 that they maintain throughout their placement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHer work ethic is impeccable,\u201d Schultze said. \u201cShe is an inspiration to me, and one of the finest and hardest working people I have ever met.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And more often than not, Busch also finds herself counseling students who are struggling with their classwork or with the daunting prospect of training for a career in healthcare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur program is all online, so we don\u2019t have a lot of the face-to-face interactions we used to have,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s done over email, or phone, or the occasional in-person visit. But I kind of \u2018Mom\u2019 them. Even though some of them are close to my age. I try to be their champion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want their education to be smooth, seamless, enjoyable, and \u2013 of course \u2013 informational. But life happens when you\u2019re trying to go to school.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“You just try to support them as best you can,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schultze wrote that Busch\u2019s passion for helping students is \u201cher modus operandi.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is evident in how she speaks with them on the phone,\u201d Schultze said, \u201cand in the fact that despite hundreds of students having come through the program, you can say a name to her, and she will be able to give you details on the person\u2026It informs every decision she makes, every conversation she has, and every piece of advice she offers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Busch recounted that in the past, she has counseled students who were struggling in the program \u2013 who later went on to graduate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She recalled, \u201cI encouraged them to continue, and they told me at Commencement that they only finished the program because of me.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“But they did all the hard work!” she objected. “They were the ones who made it through the program.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She recounted feeling shocked at being awarded the Employee of the Quarter award \u2013 but then pleased.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI spent 28 years in the semiconductor field,\u201d she said, \u201cwhich\nis as different from academia and nursing education as you can get. I\u2019ve\nlearned a lot in the 17 years I\u2019ve been here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve made so many friends. I love working with the\nstudents. I love to support the faculty, who are just awesome, and who work so\nhard to support our students.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it\u2019s clear that faculty recognize Busch\u2019s tremendous efforts to support students, too. In a second nomination letter, professor of nursing Kathryn Blair wrote, \u201c[Diane] is more than worthy of this recognition. She is one of the unsung heroes that makes this department run as smoothly as it does.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you have a colleague whose extraordinary efforts at UCCS deserve to be recognized? <\/strong>Nominate them<\/strong><\/a> for the Employee of the Quarter award.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As Debbie Schultze wrote in Busch’s nomination letter, \u201cI was hired to help Diane carry a load that I cannot believe she was managing alone \u2013 and with a smile on her face and a level of kindness that is rare to find.” (More)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":117239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1,49,9],"tags":[53,303,105],"class_list":["post-117234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all","category-campus-announcements","category-personnel","tag-academic-affairs","tag-department-of-nursing","tag-helen-and-arthur-e-johnson-beth-el-college-of-nursing-and-health-sciences"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Busch-2.png","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1mBpJ-uuS","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=117234"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":117573,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117234\/revisions\/117573"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/117239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=117234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=117234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=117234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}