2011 Lorena Herrig Career Enhancement Award:
Joyce Nochez, Acute Care

Joyce NochezFor many years, the UC Davis Retirees’ Association (UCDRA) has awarded scholarships to people who are regular employees at UC Davis and taking classes at the same time. The Staff Assembly has a similar program, and they have allowed UCDRA to “piggy-back” on their process to choose applicants to whom to award financial assistance. The tasks of verifying employment and enrollment are done by the Staff Assembly.

The UC Davis Retirees’ Association congratulates the 2011 career enhancement scholarship recipient, Joyce Maria Nochez. Joyce is a registered nurse at UC Davis Medical Center. After working several years as a nurse, Joyce decided to go back to school to become a nurse practitioner. She was accepted to the Acute Care Nurse Practitioner program at UC San Francisco, beginning in September 2011. She believes the program at UCSF will give her the tools to function as an independent clinician in an acute care setting. She is eager to learn advanced assessment skills and diagnosis and implementation of care across the continuum of healthcare, managing the patient from admission to discharge. She chose the nurse practitioner program for its direct contact with patients and takes pride in advocating for them as well as educating and caring for them.

As an Action/Rapid Response nurse at the health system, Joyce works throughout the hospital assisting nurses and doctors with critically ill patients, as well as precepting newer nurses. She is on the electronic medical record super user committee that teaches staff about the new changes in electronic charting, and the CAAD pump super user committee teaching staff about new epidural and PCA pumps. She recently joined the SEPSIS committee that has implemented a hospital-wide protocol to treat and prevent severe sepsis.

In 2005, after Hurricane Katrina, Joyce was sent to Houston by the California Nurses Association to provide relief medical care to the flood victims.

UCDRA is very pleased to provide a $1,000 scholarship to support Joyce's goal of further education. Congratulations and best wishes for the future, Joyce.