Esther Gomez is a University Professor and influencer on health and nursing issues through her project My Favorite Nurse.
Esther Gomez studied Nursing at the Autonomous University of Madrid where she graduated in 2015. As a nurse, she has focused her work on school nursing and hospital emergencies at the Hospital Universitario La Paz in Madrid and extra-hospital emergencies at the Red Cross. As a school nurse, she supports the role of these professionals as a key figure in detecting problems in the youth such as eating behavior disorder, mental health and abuse. Despite the fact that school nurses are essential to address most health related problems -including mental health- at school, the figure of school nurses is not yet regulated in Spain. As a result, these needs are covered by state nurses who dwell part of their work time to develop school health programs.
Esther gained a specialization in emergency nursing in 2018 and, since 2021, she has been a Professor at the Autonomous University of Madrid of different Master’s degrees and Director of the Master’s degree in School Nursing. She became @MiEnfermeraFavorita when she created a social media profile — initially anonymous — with the aim to bring health issues closer to her students. Gradually, she stated sharing curiosities and general knowledge about health, which led her to reach a wider audience. She strongly believes in the communication power of new technologies and the responsibility of digital channels to raise awareness of health issues and promote healthy habits.
During the pandemic, she developed the “Short Distance” initiative. Through donations and the efforts of healthcare professionals, the initiative brought COVID families and patients closer thanks to technology, during the worst phase of the pandemic, where visits to health centres were particularly limited. By distributing more than 2,000 mobile devices, which allowed 9,000 video calls a day, she helped combat loneliness and isolation.
The coronavirus crisis put great pressure on our health system, on patients and also on healthcare professionals, especially women, who account for 70 % of COVID-19 frontline healthcare and caregivers, according to the UN. For her, technology in the health environment is a very powerful tool that can facilitate the work of professionals, improve care, communication and participation of users, as well as contribute to early detection.
Thanks to her outreach experience, Esther collaborates in numerous media and has been an ambassador of Children’s Villages since 2021. Driven by her enormous enthusiasm and vocation to bring her profession closer to citizenship, Esther Gomez, My Favorite Nurse, has become an influential person in health issues.