Oncology nurse honored as Nurse of the Year at Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital

BARRINGTON – Rachel Davy is a registered nurse specializing in oncology at Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital. She was selected a 2023 Nurse of the Year for her exemplary demonstration of Advocate Health Care’s core nursing values and unwavering delivery of best-in-class care.

“Rachel is an excellent nurse and teacher with an incredibly generous spirit,” Mary Roesch, chief nursing officer at Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital, said in a news release. “Even on dark days, she is a ray of sunshine and constant source of comfort and compassion for her patients and her team. We’re so grateful for her many talents and her efforts to elevate the practice of nursing here at Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital.”

As an oncology nurse, Davy meets patients at a critical point in their life – facing cancer diagnosis and treatment – with the singular goal of helping each person feel valued, supported and heard. She uses the same approach as a team leader, focusing on rallying her team through challenges, practicing gratitude and sharing her expertise and skills to improve patient care.

“I love nursing, but it can also be really hard,” Davy said in the release. “Each day before work, I say a prayer in the parking lot for strength to help me through the day. As a nurse, you wear a lot of hats – communicator, coach and caregiver – and it’s a team sport. Everyone here comes to the hospital ready to work hard and help one another, all with a good sense of humor, and that’s why I appreciate my team at Advocate Good Shepherd so much.”

Davy loves to learn and she helps onboard and train new hires, leads nursing simulations to help keep skills sharp and is pursuing her master’s degree in nursing education. Her favorite moment is when she helps spark a lightbulb of understanding for her patients, their family members or fellow teammates despite the complexities inherent in medicine and health care.

Inspired to pursue a career in health care when her sister got sick as a child, Davy credits her faith and her sister’s unflagging resilience and strength in the face of lifelong health challenges with fueling her passion for nursing.

More than 750 nominations for the premier award were received on behalf of nurses from a variety of specialties across the patient care continuum. These frontline nurses represent diversity in their backgrounds and experiences, including honorees with decades of experience and others new to the profession yet already making an impact on their patients, colleagues and communities.

Nominations were submitted by clinicians and teammates and reviewed by peer committees for blinded judging according to each nominee’s passion for patient care, commitment to service, solution-oriented abilities and evidence-based practice.

Advocate Health Care is part of Advocate Health, which employs more than 42,000 nurses across the nation, including 27 acute care facilities and more than 500 sites of care in the Midwest.