Bethany Adams, a University of Arkansas nursing student, won the grand prize in the National Student Nurses Association/Nurse.com essay contest and her essay will be published in Imprint, the association's publication for student nurses.

Adams is a senior planning to graduate in May of 2018 following a semester studying in Costa Rica. She was unable to attend the national association's annual convention in Dallas earlier in April but the U of A was well-represented by 18 students in the Eleanor Mann School of Nursing who attended, most of them as delegates at the convention.

The topic of the essay contest was how to make the nursing work environment a more positive place. Adams said she used experiences from her clinical rotations as examples in the essay. At one clinical location, she wrote, the management behaved in an intimidating way toward the staff and it resulted in a stressful work environment in which staff members didn't seem to like each or their jobs. In contrast, management at another location was more encouraging and seemed to behave with the goal of helping staff, not criticizing them.

Adams has completed clinical assignments in geriatrics, a medical-surgical hospital floor, mental health, obstetrics, pediatrics and management. She is interested in working in a pediatric intensive care unit after graduation because of the structure in which each nurse is assigned to one patient only.

Adams also won the Johnson & Johnson Campaign for Nursing's Future Scholarship for $2,500. She is a board member of the U of A nursing school's Student Nurses Association.