32-Year Nurse Named South Miami Hospital’s Nurse of the Year

On Mary McGlaughlin’s first day of work as a nurse at South Miami Hospital, she and a friend missed an exit along the Palmetto Expressway, ended up near Okeechobee Road and had to call the hospital to get directions. That was 32 years ago and remains the only day in her career that McGlaughlin has reported late for work. Her dedication to punctuality and to her patients no doubt contributed to her earning the title of South Miami Hospital’s 2006 Nurse of the Year.

Mary McGlaughlin, R.N., eases a patient’s fears with humor as gastroenterologist David Sommer, M.D., prepares for an endoscopy.

Like the road she traveled on that first day, McGlaughlin’s career has taken her to unexpected places. She has worked with patients recovering from surgery, sickness and addiction. She also helped patients with orthopedic problems and spent 23 years on the hospital’s cardiac telemetry unit. Today, as a registered nurse in the hospital’s Endoscopy Center, she assists doctors with procedures such as colonoscopies and other endoscopies. Yet, she remembers her days as a bedside nurse and happily prepares patients for their procedures, assisting other nurses when they need her.