Oswaldo Luciano '12: Putting Patients First

By Jeffrey Weisbord 

A career in public health inspired Oswaldo Luciano ’12 to become a nurse. He was serving as the director of male health education and clinic supervisor at New York-Presbyterian Hospital when he realized that a career in nursing would allow him to both move up and stay in patient care. “The natural progression of working in public health meant that I was dedicating more time to management and less time [to] patients,” Mr. Luciano said. “I realized that if I became a nurse I could continue to advance my career while still having significant amounts of time with patients.”

Mr. Luciano needed a program that accommodated his full-time job, and Adelphi was a great fit. “Adelphi was the only school to offer a B.S.N. program that catered to working professionals,” he said. “I was able to keep my full-time job while also being a full-time student.”

Mr. Luciano said his Adelphi professors taught him “how to think like a nurse.” He explained: “It was not just about memorization. It was about understanding the very basics to make an informed decision.” He said that they “taught me to be responsible, adaptable, to think quickly, to be hardworking and to have good judgment.” Perhaps most importantly, he said he learned from them to “be professional, empathetic and to always put patients first.”

Throughout his time at Adelphi, Mr. Luciano served as the New York and New Jersey AIDS Education and Training Center training coordinator and the coordinator of its Minority AIDS Initiative. Just three months after earning his bachelor’s degree from Adelphi, Mr. Luciano accepted an offer from North Shore-Long Island Jewish Hospital to join the staff as a registered nurse. Having an Adelphi degree, he said, gave him an advantage. “Most hospitals are trying to obtain magnet status,” he explained. “For that to happen, all of their nurses need to have a minimum of a bachelor’s degree.

“My short-term and long-term goal [is] the same: to be the best nurse that I can be,” Mr. Luciano said. “After I have gained more practical experience, I hope to become an educator. I would like to pass on my enthusiasm…to future nurses.”

This piece appeared in the Manhattan Center Newsletter 2013 edition.