NDSU senior Moehmin “Moe” Jaffal recently was named North Dakota Student Nurse of the Year by the North Dakota Nursing Students’ Association. He pursuing his Bachelor of Science degree from NDSU’s School of Nursing.
“My personal experiences showed me and taught me what it is like to be on the other side of healthcare and be on the patient/family member side of things. It absolutely helps me relate to my patients and their family members,” said Jaffal, who helped family members going through cancer and dementia.
“These life-changing experiences helped shape the nursing career I am pursuing today. After seeing how impactful of a role nurses serve in our healthcare system, I knew that is what I wanted to do. I strive to become the nurse patients and their families can rely on and look forward to seeing. I want to allow people to feel safe, well-cared for, comforted and supported precisely how the home health and hospice nurses made me and my family feel.”
The 21-year-old student first began working as a certified nursing assistant in a memory care facility and later in a level one trauma center hospital emergency department.
When not working or in class, Jaffal volunteers in a neonatal intensive care unit, dialysis center and hospice. “These experiences helped familiarize me with different nursing roles, both inpatient and outpatient, while gaining more bedside experience and improving my bedside manner,” said Jaffal.
On the NDSU campus, Jaffal is a volunteer for the Stop the Bleed campaign, teaching peers how to effectively respond to a traumatic injury. He also received the Karen Matejcek Wallace Memorial Nursing Scholarship.
He was born in the U.S. and later moved with his family to the Middle East. When he was 16, his family moved back to the U.S., where Jaffal spent his junior and senior years at Moorhead High School and was named valedictorian of his class. After his first year of college, he transferred to NDSU.
“My professors are my nursing role models because they helped shape who I am as a nurse today,” Jaffal said. “NDSU helped increase my communication skills and taught me how to portray myself in a professional manner when in a professional setting.”
“In the nursing program, Moe has performed exceptionally well in both the classroom and clinical setting, displaying the utmost professional and academic integrity desired in a nurse. He is highly competent, compassionate and thoughtful in his nursing interactions,” said Carla Gross, associate dean of nursing at NDSU. “Moe’s positive energy is contagious and he helps others to be better.”
Jaffal is set to graduate in December 2022. He plans to become an emergency room nurse and later pursue a graduate degree in nursing.
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