Kathy - A Nurse for the Nurses

Kathy -







Throughout my nursing career, I’ve been fortunate to hold many different positions, each with progressively more responsibility. My roles became larger and larger in a rather methodical fashion. It just seemed like there was always an opportunity presenting itself, and I was able to step into the role. Currently, I’m the ER director at a hospital, and I’m really loving it.

This is by far the hardest work I've ever done. But it's also back to the basics of taking care of people, in this case my staff. It's like I’m a nurse for the nurses. I don’t wear scrubs anymore, but I’m still nurturing people.

I have a hard time believing that everybody doesn’t want to be a nurse! When I see how tenderly some young people interact with those who are most vulnerable – an elderly person, or a frightened young child, for example – I say to them, “You’re a nurse.” They might tell me they couldn’t do it, but I see how they care, and I know they have it in them. It’s just a feeling that I have, a kind of intuition. I’m good at sensing things about people, whether it’s someone who should go into nursing, or a new graduate who is the right hire for my department.

When someone tells me they can't be a nurse because they can't handle the sight of blood, I tell them there are actually very few places in nursing where they will see blood. The worst part of your entire career is the cadaver lab, I tell them. If you can get through that, you can get through anything. Not everyone can be in the ER, or the OR. Many young women are not going into nursing because they say, "I saw Susie break her arm last year and I fainted." So I tell them my truth - when one of my own kids gets cut, my knees buckle and my husband's taking care of them!

Every new nurse needs a mentor. I am obsessed with mentoring. In fact, I’ve created a new program in the ER department, and it’s been really successful. My staff describes it as mentoring people instead of orienting them. It's about building the relationships, trust, confidence, organizational skills and processes that they’re going to use for the rest of their careers. We give people the safe environment in which to do that.

Finding mentors was easy. I just trusted my gut, and selected a few people who had just been waiting to rise up. No one had ever told them before that they could be mentors. And they were just beaming when they were chosen. Someone described it to me as sunshine coming into our department, and all these little flowers beginning to grow.

Recently, I made my first hire in the ER department. This morning I met with him and his mentor, and this new hire said to me, "I love working here."“If we're not learning something about each of the patients we touch, then we're not really touching them.” I said, "Are you just saying that because you know that's what I want so badly to hear?" And he said, "I love this place." So I told him, “You’re my first hire. I don't know if you know how significant that is to me as a new leader. But I will never forget bringing you into this department and praying that you would be taken care of." Because I wasn't convinced that we had the right processes in place, and he proved to me that we did.

The culture that I’m trying to build is not for everyone. It's one in which you feel safe and supported, but also one in which you are stretched. There are always stretch goals being set for all of us so there's no room for complacency.

The reality is that ER's across the country are struggling desperately. People are using them as primary care. We have a lot more uninsured in our communities, so volumes are going up everywhere. At the same time, bed capacities are going down. The ER faces pressure that no other hospital department does. That’s why I make sure that my staff is nurtured, so they in turn can properly nurture the patients.

No matter what line of nursing you're in, you should want to touch people on a personal level. Get their stories, learn something about them outside of their patient situation. That is what someone who wants to make a positive contribution and is really in this profession for the right reasons will do. If we're not learning something about each of the patients we touch, then we're not really touching them. At the same time, we also need to take care of our co-workers, of each other. I say to new grads, "You need to know what you're getting into. You're going to have a lot of really out-of-control days where you're really, really stressed. It doesn't mean you should leave here saying, ‘That was a horrible day and we all did terrible.’ Instead I want to create the kind of team where you go home and say to yourself, ‘That was a horrible day and I love the people I work with’.”

Power Strategies: Influence, Stewardship, Standards
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